Corporate Relations

Dear Corporate Friends,

Since its founding in 1973, the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) has grown into a vital resource for professionals in the continually evolving field of interventional radiology. SIR has a steadily increasing membership of more than 4,300 physicians and other allied health professionals.

The landscape of medicine is constantly changing, and for the past 30 years, interventional radiologists have been responsible for much of the innovation and development of the minimally invasive procedures that are commonplace today. Interventional radiologists pioneered modern medicine with the invention of angioplasty and the catheter-delivered stent, which were first used to treat peripheral arterial disease. By using a catheter to open the blocked artery, the procedure allowed an 82-year-old woman, who refused amputation surgery, to keep her gangrene-ravaged left foot. To her surgeon's disbelief, her pain ceased, she started walking, and three "irreversibly" gangrenous toes spontaneously sloughed. She left the hospital on her feet-both of them. Charles Dotter, MD, the interventional radiologist who pioneered this technique, is known as the "Father of Interventional Radiology," and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1978.

Angioplasty and stenting revolutionized medicine and led the way for the more widely known applications of coronary artery angioplasty and stenting that revolutionized the practice of cardiology. Today many conditions that once required surgery can be treated less invasively by interventional radiologists.

Interventional radiology continues to be at the forefront of patient care, and the number of interventional radiologists continues to grow. The IR fellowship match closed on June 25, 2008. The number of IR positions filled has increased to 140. This represents an increase of 10% over 2007.

SIR's members rely on the SIR Annual Scientific Meeting and the many programs and tools included in the pages of the Corporate Opportunities Schedule to further their abilities to treat patients. Your company's support is crucial to SIR's ability to create the robust educational programming and clinical practice tools SIR members depend on to continue to fuel their drive for innovation.

Thank you in advance for your commitment to the future of interventional radiology.

Sincerely,

John Kaufman, M.D., FSIR

To learn more, email the corporate relations department.