Interventional Radiology Techniques for the Management of Painful Bone Metastases

Metastatic cancer to the osseous structures can result in significant pain that can often be difficult to control with narcotic medication. Multiple interventional radiology treatments can be applied for palliative relief and improvement in patient quality of life. The most commonly used interventional radiology techniques include embolization, thermal ablation, vertebral augmentation, cementoplasty, and percutaneous internal fixation. These procedures are associated with unique considerations for the radiology nurse. We review the most common palliative techniques performed by the radiology team for patients with musculoskeletal metastases and focus on the salient nursing implications for preprocedural, intraprocedural, and postprocedural care.