Objective Nowadays imaging-guided nonvascular interventional procedures are becoming increasingly important in musculoskeletal field. Percutaneous interventional procedures include a broad spectrum of minimal invasive techniques, involving diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. In this article we present our views and suggestions in percutaneous musculoskeletal biopsies, percutaneous periradicular steroids infiltration, diskography, percutaneous cementoplasty, percutaneous treatment of disk herniation, and percutaneous treatment of osteoid osteoma.

The scale of craniofacial intervention lies between the fields of neuro-intervention and peripheral intervention for the main purpose to investigate,diagnose and treat the disease entities originating from or supplied by the external carotid arterial system. Patients are usually refered to the oral and maxillofacial surgery,plastic surgery and otolaryngeal surgery. Craniofacial intervention includes mainly the diagnosis and treatment with adjuvant embolization of high-flow vascular diseases,intra-arterial chemotherapy of malignant tumors,embolization of epistaxis,etc. At present,there is no consensus with regard to the diagnosis and treatment of some craniofacial diseases,therefore further investigation and discussion are needed.(J Intervent Radiol,2006,15: 321-322)

Many details concerning the interventional diagnosis and therapy of thyroid disease need to be studied deeply and carefully; for example, the thyroid applied anatomy, especially the anatomical imageology study of the thyroid arterial anastomosis involving the therapeutic effects and complications, the thyroid artery embolization treatment, presently as a substitution or the supplement therapy for the traditional classical therapy of Graves disease. There are many exploration to extend the indication scope, the therapeutic effect, embolization scope in intervention for Graves disease due to having no accurate individual quantification standard, and so on. The thyroid arterial embolization for Graves disease is to reduce the main cause of thyroxin secretion. Simultaneously, the comprehensive therapeutic effects might have possibly produce the thyroidcytic apoptosis and immune adjustments. Serious complications such as the cerebral infarction, the hyperthyroidism crisis, the hypocalcemia, the periodic paralysis, and so on commonly occured in thyroid arterial embolization. It is necessary to keep strictly the procedure rule and the indication. The mid-and long-term therapeutic effect of thyroid artery embolization for Graves disease is good, but still need more extensive and prudent research for the prospective achievement.

Objective Covered stents have been widely utilized in aortic dissections and aortic aneurysms since Parieli treated an abdominal aortic aneurysm with a stent-graft in 1991.Covered stents have also been reported for managing peripheral vascular diseases,including large or wide-neck aneurysm,pseudoaneurysm,vascular rupture/perforation and arteriovenous fistula.Encouraging achievements are also bringing in more than one decade,even in China.For transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt creation,the primary patency rate at 1 year after covered stent grafting is statistically longer than that of bare stent.At present,it is worth studying randomly the covered stent versus bare stent in treating long segmental arterial stenosis and/or occlusion.Furthermore observation should be insisted upon for the long term patency of parent artery after implanting with covered stent.Deploying a covered stent into a tortuous vessel is still a challenge and tough problem.There would still be a long way in China for further development in basic research of improving the substantial property of stent-graft and better design of deploying device.The main target for all interventional radiologists in the foreseen future is how to develop new covered stents with independent knowledge property right and to expand new horizon for its application.

Along with the development of medical science and the improvement of interventional medical products, the clinical experience and operational skills of relevant interventional physicans, the interventional techniques have broken through the traditional limitation and being used more and more often and widely in the patients of advanced malignant tumor and played an important role; including intraarterial chemotherapy, perfusion, nerve block and percutaneous vertebroplasty for suppressing pain; stent placement for esophageal, tracheal, intestinal strictures and fistula; percutaneous centesis for hydrocele, etc. Taking this profit, for further extension of interventional diagnosis and treatment in late-stage cancer patients outcomes with a positive role in prolonging life span and improving the life qualities while they are alive.

Interventional diagnostic and therapeutic techniques have developed rapidly in recent years with more and more practically and widely utilization as time goes by. The diagnostic procedures consist of percutaneous biopsy, CT discography, pressure measurement of intervertebral disc; and the therapeutic measures include percutaneous periradicular and joint therapy, decompression of sacral cyst, vertebroplasty, kyphoplasty, decompression of intervertebral disc, transarterial chemotherapy and embolization in spinal tumor, and newly developed percutaneous posterior lumbar intervertebral fusion. All above mentioned interventional techniques for spinal column diseases are developing day by day with a promising future and will play an important role in the field of interventional radiologist research.

During the past decades, interventional neuroradiology has become one of the most important modalities for treatment of cerebral vascular diseases. Chinese doctors have made great progress in this field, and their diagnosis and treament have also reached the international level in some territories. Following the need of specialized development for interventional neuroradiology,more and more problems have arisen and even caused argument in this field. To resolve the issue and promote the healthy and fast development of interventional neuroradiology,it is time for us to formulate the standard training and certification system for interventional neuroradiologist.

Interventional radiology is a new kind of minimally-invasive therapeutics that has developed on the basis of radiological imaging diagnosis.Interventional radiology is defined as a clinical subject that carries out the specific diagnosis and treatment under the guidance of medical imaging equipment and with the help of puncture needle,guide wire,catheter,etc.The interventional radiology categories include interventional diagnosis and interventional therapy.Interventional medicine is defined from the perspective of clinical application,while interventional radiology is defined from the technical characteristics of diagnosis and treatment.《of Interventional Radiology》 and the upcoming 《Journal of Interventional Medicine (English version)》 will become the professional sister journals in interventional academic field,which will provide important support for promoting the development of interventional medicine in China and for enhancing the international influence power of Chinese interventional medicine.