Environmental Impact of Interventional Radiology

In this episode, interventional radiologist Dr. Jonathan Gross and our host Dr. Aaron Fritts discuss the results from Dr. Gross’s recent JVIR article on the quantifiable environmental impact of operating an IR practice for one week.

Dr. Gross begins by describing his lifelong interest in environmental sustainability. He developed the idea for this study because he recognized the discordance between his conscientious practices at home and his less sustainable practices in the IR suite. Dr. Gross acclimates us to vocabulary that is used in the article and defines the measurements of “life cycle assessment” and “volume of greenhouse gases.”

Many listeners will be surprised to find out that material waste makes up less than 2% of all greenhouse gas emissions in an IR suite. The majority of emissions is actually produced by air conditioning and air exchange systems, which frequently and unnecessarily run when IR suites are not being used.

Finally, Dr. Gross shares ways to reduce the environmental impacts of IR, such as installing motion-sensor lights, using re-processed equipment instead of single-use equipment, and streamlining procedure packs.