Interventional radiology in infants and children: clinical and technical aspects.

The authors performed 53 extravascular interventional procedures in 47 pediatric patients between July 1981 and September 1983. Except for transhepatic cholangiography in patients without intrahepatic biliary dilatation, the success rate was high. There were few complications, and none that were life-threatening or required surgery. More than 90% of procedures were performed without general anesthesia. Factors essential to safe and successful intervention in infants, children, and adolescents, in the authors' opinion, include (a) active involvement by the radiologist, (b) guidance by real-time imaging, (c) careful matching of needles, catheters, and guide wires to patient size, and (d) adequate sedation and analgesia.