Mina Makary, MD, gets excited when he talks about what he does: interventional radiology surgery. “We can cure a tumor in real time [in some cases],” he explains. “A patient comes in with a liver cancer tumor and we can ablate (burn or freeze) it and they can go home the same day, cancer free, with only a small bandage.” Interventional radiology surgery is a relatively new and growing field of cancer surgery. It is a minimally invasive type of surgery in which a small incision in made in the patient, and then Makary uses advanced imaging techniques to guide small wires and instruments to the exact site of the tumor. And then, several different treatment techniques can be utilized. Ablation is most commonly used to eradicate liver cancers. “It can also be used for kidney and lung cancer and for benign tumors that are causing pressure on the body,” Makary explained. Another advanced technique involves cutting off the flow of blood to a tumor, as well as injecting it directly with chemotherapy or radiation beads. Blockages in veins can be eliminated using balloons, and veins that have been destroyed by a tumor can be reconstructed. Makary said minimally invasive surgical techniques will continue to become more common because “a patient has a quicker recovery, there are less complications and it is more cost effective … What gives me energy at the end of the day is to go and see my patients and their loved ones and tell them what I just did and, at the end of an ablation, say ‘congratulations, you’re cancer free.’”