“Benign” is supposed to be good news. But anyone who has lived with a thyroid nodule that causes difficulty swallowing, or who has endured hemorrhoids for years, knows the truth: “benign” does not mean “no problem.”
And yet, many benign conditions are still met with a reflexive recommendation for surgery. Meanwhile, for a large share of these conditions, minimally invasive alternatives now exist — precise, without general anesthesia, and with a short recovery.
Over the past several years, interventional radiology has developed a broad range of techniques for treating benign conditions: radiofrequency ablation, cryoablation, sclerotherapy, embolization. We use what fits the condition and has proven effective — not whatever is surgically most convenient.
