Jeffrey Pollak, MD, is a vascular and interventional radiologist who specializes in the minimally invasive treatment of blood vessel abnormalities (including occlusions and abnormally developed vessels) and of tumors.
While active in all aspects of vascular and interventional radiology, Dr. Pollak’s current major interests are embolotherapy (embolization) for acquired and congenital vascular abnormalities and malformations (other than in the brain), fibroids, and malignancies, as well as other minimally invasive treatments for tumors, such as local ablation, particularly in the liver and kidney.
“For smaller and more limited tumors, the preferred method is local ablation. The second method is the delivery of material through the liver artery supplying the tumor to injure and destroy it,” Dr. Pollak explains. “The injected material commonly consists of concentrated chemotherapy mixed with other material, usually special plastic beads, but also may consist of special radiation-emitting beads to create internal radiation therapy.”
Dr. Pollak, who says he mixes honesty with humor to reassure patients and make them feel comfortable, is an expert in vascular procedures in the liver, such as intrahepatic portosystemic shunts and venous procedures, including inferior vena cava filters and opening blocked veins.
Dr. Pollak is the director of the multidisciplinary Yale Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia Program, which was started as the first of its kind in the world in the early 1990s. As such, he has extensive experience in the evaluation and management of patients with this genetic disorder, with particular expertise in embolization of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations, which frequently occur in this population.
Additionally, he is the co-director of the Yale Pulmonary Embolism Response Team, a group of physicians interested in the advancement of the management of patients with this condition, especially those with more severe manifestations.
