Advancing venous care at CIRSE 2026: an interview with Prof. Gerry O’Sullivan

July 23, 2026

Prof. Gerry O’Sullivan discusses the importance of dedicated venous services and highlights what delegates can expect from the venous programme at CIRSE 2026 this September.

CIRSE Insider: What excites you when practicing venous interventions?

O’Sullivan: Treating arterial patients, generally—but not always—involves patients with advanced disease and of advanced years. Venous patients can present at any age, and what I particularly enjoy is the ability to profoundly and positively impact the patient’s life from an endovascular intervention.

CIRSE Insider: Beyond the intervention itself, how do you integrate the clinical and patient-centred perspective approach in your own practice?

O’Sullivan: I have a fairly dedicated venous service, so I see the patients from initial referral in my IR clinic, I admit them under my care, and follow them up longitudinally pre- and post-intervention.

I am very fortunate to be supported by my haematology and vascular surgical colleagues, but, over the years, we’ve been receiving an increasingly large number of referrals directly from general practice.

CIRSE Insider: Why is it important to give venous disease a dedicated platform at CIRSE 2026?

O’Sullivan: Despite the expertise that many of my interventional radiology colleagues already possess, in many ways, it is still the Cinderella of the vascular world: largely forgotten, and cleaning the kitchen! But more and more physicians are realizing that, in fact, these patients benefit from our treatment and experience and obtain long-lasting improvement for the rest of their lives.

If I treat a 15-year-old patient with an acute iliofemoral deep vein thrombosis (IFDVT)—and using a modern mechanical thrombectomy device and stent, we can be finished in under one hour—that patient hopefully will have 70 to 80 years of normal health from a venous perspective. That’s an incredible thing to be able to offer patients.

The alternative, treating an IFDVT patient with standard anticoagulation alone, has been proven to result in suboptimal outcomes in terms of post-thrombotic syndrome, and in a smaller proportion of patients, venous ulcer formation, which is a very difficult-to-treat condition.

Prof. O’Sullivan moderates a session at CIRSE 2025

Prof. O’Sullivan (second from left) stands fellow panellists during the hot topic symposium “Practice building in interventional radiology“.

CIRSE Insider: Could you share a few key highlights of the venous programme at CIRSE 2026? Do you have any must-see sessions that you would not like to miss?

O’Sullivan: I’m looking forward to the session Post-thrombotic venous occlusions: what’s new and what’s coming down the track?. Some of the newer technologies on show are very exciting, including the RECANA device, the FLEX device, Vector Vascular, and the results of the GOREFORTEGRA trial.

CIRSE Insider: There will be a new session on venous stent maintenance. Why was this included, and what do you think will be the important takeaways from the session?

O’Sullivan: Venous in-stent restenosis (ISR) is an increasing problem. As more deep venous patients are treated, more venous stents are placed in a certain proportion of patients, and despite optimal medical management and technical proficiency in stent placement, they develop ISR. Dealing with ISR, and particularly venous occlusion, can be extremely challenging.

And that is why we speak about venous maintenance, as, unlike following arterial stent placement, you have to actively manage that patient going forward. In other words, you can’t just place the stent and never see the patient again. If you do, then the next time you will see that patient is likely when the stent is occluded!

Patients need frequent reminders to take their anticoagulation medication, wear their compression stockings, stay active, keep working on their calf muscles, and keep up their ankle mobility. If they have symptoms, they need to see you quickly rather than after three months. That’s what venous stent maintenance is about.

CIRSE Insider: Looking ahead, where do you see the biggest opportunities for growth or innovation in venous interventions?

O’Sullivan: I think the big growth areas will be:

• pulmonary embolism
• IVC reconstruction using dedicated venous stents
• pelvic venous disease
• management of venous in-stent restenosis
• venous stent maintenance

We are very fortunate that CIRSE is active in all of these areas.