WHAT ARE MINIMALLY INVASIVE IMAGE-GUIDED PROCEDURES (MIIPs)?
MIIPs are cutting edge solutions...without the cutting! MIIPs are not surgery. By using medical images like x-rays to see inside the body, specialized doctors can treat major diseases through a pinhole.
WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM MIIPs?
MIIPs can treat adults and children with a wide variety of diseases throughout the body. MIIPs can also help patients after surgery or even help patients avoid surgery altogether.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MIIPs AND MINIMALLY INVASIVE SURGERY?
MIIPs are performed by specialized doctors called Interventional Radiologists, Interventional Cardiologists, and specially trained Vascular Surgeons. Other types of doctors may be specially trained to perform MIIPs, too.
MIIPs do not use cameras inside the body. Medical imaging allows these specialists to see inside the body from the outside. Patients usually go home with a Band-Aid just hours after the MIIP.
By contrast, minimally invasive surgery is performed by surgeons using cameras inside the body. Surgeons make several incisions large enough to place cameras and surgical instruments inside the body. One example is laparoscopic surgery.
ARE PATIENTS AWAKE DURING A MIIP?
Most MIIPs can be performed with moderate sedation, meaning that the patient is comfortable and drowsy but able to respond and breathe on their own.
Some simple MIIPs can be performed with numbing medication alone. MIIPs are rarely performed with general anesthesia, where a patient has a breathing tube and is completely unconscious. CLICK HERE for more information about local anesthesia.
Watch the videos below to hear from two patients who underwent a MIIP.