Procedural Impact of a Dedicated Interventional Oncology Service Line in a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center.
OBJECTIVE
We tested the hypothesis that establishing a dedicated interventional oncology (IO) clinical service line would increase clinic visits and procedural volumes at a single quaternary care academic medical center.


METHODS
Two time periods were defined: July 2012 to June 2013 (pre-IO clinic) and July 2013 to June 2014 (first year of dedicated IO service). Staff was recruited, and clinic space was provided in the institution's comprehensive cancer center. Clinic visits and procedure numbers were documented using the institution's electronic medical record and billing forms. IO procedures included were transarterial chemoembolization, Y-90 radioembolization, perfusion mapping for Y-90, portal vein embolization, and bland embolization. We compared changes in clinic visit and procedure numbers using paired t tests. Changes after IO initiation were compared to 1-year changes in the Medicare 5% Limited Data Set by cross-referencing Current Procedure Terminology and International Classification of Diseases codes in 2012 and 2013.


RESULTS
Clinic visits increased from 9 to 204 (P = .003, t = 8.89, df = 3). Procedures increased from 60 to 239 (P = .018, t = 3.85, df = 4). Procedural volumes increased at least 150% for each subtype. The volumes in the 5% Limited Data Set did not change significantly over the 2-year period (443 to 385, P > .05).


CONCLUSIONS
The establishment of a dedicated IO service significantly increased clinic visits and procedural volumes. National trends were unchanged, suggesting that the impact of our program was not part of a sudden increase of IO procedures.
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee.
Mary Ellen
ME
Koran
Department of Radiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
Andrew J
AJ
Lipnik
Department of Radiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
Jennifer C
JC
Baker
Department of Radiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
Filip
F
Banovac
Department of Radiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
Reed A
RA
Omary
Department of Radiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee. Electronic address: daniel.b.brown@vanderbilt.edu.
Daniel B
DB
Brown
D002173:Cancer Care Facilities / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003191:Comprehensive Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004621:Embolization, Therapeutic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D017146:Models, Organizational; D054547:National Cancer Institute (U.S.) / Q000458:organization & administration; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D015995:Prevalence; D018787:Radiation Oncology / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015641:Radiography, Interventional / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015642:Radiology, Interventional / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013714:Tennessee / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States; D016526:Workload
Interventional radiology; chemoembolization; portal vein embolization; practice development; radioembolization