• Jeremy O'Brien, Mark Otto Baerlocher, Murray R Asch, Eran Hayeems, John R Kachura, and Peter Collingwood.
• Schulich School of Medicine, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
• Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. 2007 Sep 1; 30 (5): 847-53.

PurposeTo describe the current state and limitations to interventional radiology (IR) in Canada through a large, national survey of Canadian interventional radiologists.MethodsAn anonymous online survey was offered to members of the Canadian Interventional Radiology Association (CIRA). Only staff radiologists were invited to participate.ResultsSeventy-five (75) responses were received from a total of 247, giving a response rate of 30%. Respondents were split approximately equally between academic centers (47%) and community practice (53%), and the majority of interventional radiologists worked in hospitals with either 200-500 (49%) or 500-1,000 (39%) beds. Procedures listed by respondents as most commonly performed in their practice included PICC line insertion (83%), angiography and stenting (65%), and percutaneous biopsy (37%). Procedures listed as not currently performed but which interventional radiologists believed would benefit their patient population included radiofrequency ablation (36%), carotid stenting (34%), and aortic stenting (21%); the majority of respondents noted that a lack of support from referring services was the main reason for not performing these procedures (56%). Impediments to increasing scope and volume of practice in Canadian IR were most commonly related to room or equipment shortage (35%), radiologist shortage (33%), and a lack of funding or administrative support (28%).ConclusionInterventional radiology in Canada is limited by a number of factors including funding, manpower, and referral support. A concerted effort should be undertaken by individual interventional radiologists and IR organizations to increase training capacity, funding, remuneration, and public exposure to IR in order to help advance the subspecialty.

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