“There are simply not enough trained specialists to treat stroke patients [with emergent large vessel occlusion, by embolectomy] in the US. We need to recruit physicians with endovascular skills—interventional cardiologists, interventional radiologists and vascular surgeons—to train them appropriately so that they can help deliver endovascular treatment for appropriate stroke patients,” says Thomas A Haldis (Fargo, USA), who is an interventional cardiologist. He spoke to Interventional News at the VEITHsymposium 2018.
In a recent joint, global position statement, the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology Society of Europe (CIRSE) and the Interventional Radiology Society of Australasia (IRSA) have committed to providing necessary stroke training to interventional radiologists in order to alleviate the shortage of physicians trained in endovascular stroke therapies.
