CONTROVERSIES IN VASCULAR IMAGING AND INTERVENTION - A PANEL DISCUSSION

Purpose: To express for educational purposes, different and often oppo sing views on controversial topics of current interest in vascular rad iology. And to explore whether or not consensus can be reached on any of these controversial issues. Method: Panel discussion among experts in the field. With the help of a moderator, controversial topics were introduced for discussion. For each topic the moderator underscored th e principal issue and asked relevant questions. All panelists were ask ed to express their views on all issues. The following issues were dis cussed: Atherectomy vs balloon angioplasty; Balloon angioplasty vs ste nts; Digital vs analog Imaging; TIPS as an emergency procedure; Region al thrombolysis; MRA vs conventional angiography; Laser angioplasty; C arbon dioxide angiography; Lymphangiography vs CT; The training of sur geons in angiography. The panelists were urged to avoid extensive refe rences to the literature but rather to express their own personal opin ions based on experience and practice. For each topic an attempt was m ade to arrive at consensus. Results: Ten issues were presented for deb ate and discussion. Despite divergent opinions it was possible and rel atively painless to reach consensus on seven controversies. On the rem aining issues the panelists agreed to disagree. However even when ther e was disagreement certain trends became apparent. Local consideration s and resource availability accounted for varied approaches to the sol ution of certain controversies. Conclusions: A panel discussion among experts may be a useful way to address controversies for educational p urposes. Despite divergence of opinions consensus may be reached, or i n absence of consensus general trends may become apparent.