QUALIFICATIONS

2011    CCT Clinical Radiology. 

2009   DM (Oxon) Image guided tumour ablation. 

2009    FRCR. 

2001    MRCS (Eng)

1998    BM BCh (Oxon). 

1998    MA (Cantab) (Biological Anthropology),

CURRENT POSTS

Consultant Radiologist & Director of the UCLH Interventional Oncology Service, University College London Hospitals (UCLH). Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London. Clinical Research Specialty Lead for Interventional Radiology, NIHR North Thames Clinical Research Network  

Director of the Leading Interventional Oncology Network (LION)

Member of the Interventional Radiology National Clinical Reference Group for the NHS Commissioning Board

Biography

Rowland Illing is a Consultant Interventional Radiologist and Director of the Interventional Oncology Service at University College Hospital (UCH), London. He is also an Honorary Lecturer in the Division of Surgery and Interventional Science.

He graduated from Cambridge University and studied postgraduate medicine in Oxford before training in surgery at the Imperial College Hospitals and gaining membership of the Royal College of Surgeons. His higher research degree at Oxford University was in image-guided cancer therapy, using high-intensity focused ultrasound to destroy liver and kidney tumours. After a further year of research into image-guided prostate therapy he went on to formally train in imaging, becoming a fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists.

Rowland's passion for image-guided therapy for cancer led him to develop the Interventional Oncology Service at UCH where he treats a variety of solid tumour deposits using microwave, radiofrequency, laser and cryoablation.

He conducts research in the evaluation of new, minimally invasive technology and has established the Foundation for Interventional Oncology Research, part of UCH Charitable Trust.

In practice at

The University College London Hospital
NHS
LION Interventional Oncology
Private

Specialisms

Treatment options

Diagnostic tests

Languages spoken:

English

Articles written by Dr Rowland Illing

Image Guided Tumour Ablation - Latest cancer therapies

The goal of all cancer therapy is to target only the disease, whilst not causing unnecessary damage to surrounding healthy tissue. The latest imaging technology allows the surgeon to see precisely what he is operating on in real time without the need for open surgery. Many different types of cancer can now be effectively treated due to new precision ablative therapies. "Incredible improvements in our ability to diagnose and monitor cancer during treatment allows doctors to direct needles to suspicious areas of tissue, take small samples and destroy those areas using energy delivered down needles. The name for this ‘needlehole’ treatment is ‘ablation’ and refers to any non-radiotherapy form of treatment that destroys tissue focally, while sparing the surrounding healthy tissue." Dr Rowland Illing

Image Guided Treatment of Kidney Cancer

With the advent of Interventional Oncology and tumour ablation, patients with renal (kidney) cancer now have access to a range of highly effective minimally invasive treatment options. Until recently the only treatment options for kidney cancer were active monitoring and / or radical nephrectomy, where the entire kidney is removed. The latest image guided techniques mean that it is now possible to specifically target the tumour and immediate surrounding tissues, without the need to remove the entire organ. This preserves kidney function, reduces surgical risk and gives a quicker recovery time.