Neurointerventional radiology generates nearly 15 pounds of waste per procedure
Neurointerventional radiology generates nearly 15 pounds of trash per procedure with key economic implications for the specialty, according to new research published Tuesday.
The healthcare sector has a sizable impact on the environment and greenhouse gas emissions, given its high generation of waste. Operating rooms, especially neuro IR ones, are an important culprit, relying on specialized, disposable materials, experts write in RSNA’s Radiology.
Austrian researchers recently aimed to put a figure to this concern, analyzing all waste generated from one hospital’s neurointerventional angiography suite during a 90-day period. They found each procedure created between 7 pounds to nearly 35 pounds per procedure, a clear signal of the need for “tailored waste reduction strategies.”
“Procedures that use specialized devices generate more packaging waste, impacting both environmental and economic metrics,” Johannes A. R. Pfaff, MD, with the Department of Neuroradiology at University Hospital Salzburg, Austria, and co-authors concluded. “These findings underscore the urgency for sustainable practices within neurointerventional care to reduce both environmental footprints and costs,” they added later.
The prospective study spanned three months in 2025, with Pfaff and colleagues measuring and sorting all waste generated during 100 consecutive procedures. Categories included general, clinical, recyclable paper or plastic, sharps and glass. Trash bins were weighed after procedures and disposal costs for each stream calculated from the waste management department’s estimates.
Clinical waste constituted the largest portion, averaging nearly 8 pounds per procedure and accounting for 51% of all trash generated. Recyclable plastic (3 lbs/20%) and paper (2 lbs/13%) also contributed significantly, the authors reported. Meanwhile by procedure, aneurysm treatments generated the highest average waste at 20 pounds, followed by mechanical thrombectomy (17 lbs). Procedures involving specialized materials, such as stent angioplasty, showed higher proportions of recyclable plastic (over 21%) and paper, due to packaging, the study found.
Average disposal costs were about $1.56 (USD) per intervention and ranged from $1.20 for diagnostic cerebral angiography to $1.92 for aneurysm embolization. Across all 100 procedures, providers generated nearly 1,500 pounds of waste, extrapolating to about 3 tons over the course of year. Incinerating all of these materials also would generate sizable amounts of greenhouse gases, the authors added.
“The contribution of clinical waste, coupled with considerable amounts of recyclable plastic and paper, underscores the environmental burden of these procedures,” Pfaff et al. reported. “Future studies should investigate material choices and the effectiveness of waste-reduction interventions,” they added later.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.