Dr. Irvin Hawkins wins first-ever international award for pioneering radiology work

University of Florida radiologist Irvin (Dick) Hawkins Jr., M.D., is the first to receive an international lifetime achievement award for his long history of developing minimally invasive radiological and cardiovascular procedures and improving patient comfort and safety.

The Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology Research and Education Foundation presented the inaugural Leaders in Innovation Award to Hawkins at the Society of Interventional Radiology's recent annual meeting in Salt Lake City.

Foundation Chairman Matthew Mauro, M.D., a professor of surgery and radiology and the vice chairman of radiology at the University of North Carolina's School of Medicine, said Hawkins was selected for both the impact and duration of his work.

"We looked at 20 years of radiology history and many great innovators, which made choosing a recipient particularly hard," Mauro said. "No one else in our discipline has Hawkins' track record of continuing innovations over such a long period of time, and that made him stand out in a large group of talented and exceptional individuals."

Hawkins, a professor of radiology and surgery who has been at UF since 1968, has envisioned many devices and techniques before the technology existed to develop them, said Jim Caridi, M.D., a UF associate professor of radiology and surgery. He said Mauro calls Hawkins -the Leonardo da Vinci of interventional radiology.

"The Hawkins team's ability to design and fabricate new equipment has for decades given UF devices and procedures that weren't available elsewhere, and he's always had patients' safety and comfort in mind," Caridi said. "He was the vanguard for using small catheters, biopsy needles and wires. At the time some thought it was crazy, but now it�s standard."

Hawkins' development of minimally invasive procedures has resulted in 22 patents and led to new tools and strategies used worldwide. He is perhaps best known for pioneering the use of carbon dioxide as a contrast agent for imaging a patient's cardiovascular system and was the first to inject CO2 into arteries.

"He is the father of using CO2 in the medical imaging process. He may not have been the first, but he propelled it into clinical use almost single-handedly," Mauro said. "He developed the systems to make it safe to use, and it's caused an incredible change in radiology: Two decades ago it was hardly ever used, and now it's a mainstream, international technique."

Hawkins has lobbied for the use of CO2 because of its safety and inexpensiveness.

"There's no toxicity with CO2 - it causes no kidney problems, and you can't be allergic to it," Hawkins said. "Compared to iodine, a commonly used imaging agent, it costs almost nothing and results in an image that's almost identical. CO2 also doesn't have any viscosity, so we can see things we wouldn't otherwise see, like a bleeding artery."

Hawkins said the chief problem with CO2 had been the lack of safe injection systems.

"Originally I was working with a company on a sophisticated, fully automated injector that featured a CO2 tank and multiple transducers to monitor pressure. But the injector was very expensive and there were complications with the FDA," he said. "So we came up with a simpler delivery system using a bag and one-way check valves. You just fill the bag, aspirate and inject - as fast as you can say it, you can inject it."

Hawkins said he could not have received the award without support from his colleagues.

"I'm just part of it - it's really the whole team," he said. "We've had very strong support from surgery. You can't do it by yourself." And Hawkins continues to improve the safety and comfort of radiological procedures.

"We're trying to improve venous catheters," he said. "When I started out, we modified and used smaller diagnostic tools for intervention. It's the same today: We need better designs."