Space: The Final Frontier for IR

Abstract

A manned mission to Mars requires advanced on-board medical capabilities to address medical incidents that may arise during long-duration interplanetary spaceflight. As this role does not exactly match that of any single specialty, the ideal choice of physician is not immediately obvious. In this work, we review the considerable challenges of providing medical care in the austere conditions of interplanetary space travel and explain why an interventional radiologist may be well-equipped to deliver diagnostic and therapeutic care within these severely constrained conditions.