In a first for Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, a 67-year old from Taylorsville successfully received a newly FDA-approved endovascular stent graft that has fenestrations or small openings to treat a complex abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Wake Forest Baptist is the second hospital to perform the complex procedure in the state.
Caused by a weakening of the aortic wall, a AAA (pronounced “triple-a”) results in the ballooning of the aorta. A ruptured AAA can be life-threatening since the aorta is the major supplier of blood to the body.
The new procedure, performed Friday, Nov. 30, by Justin Hurie, M.D., assistant professor of vascular and endovascular surgery and Matthew Corriere, M.D., assistant professor of vascular surgery, allows physicians to use this minimally invasive technique to treat patients whose aneurysms are too close to arteries around vital organs, such as the kidneys. Using an endovascular stent graft with fenestrations or small openings, blood is able to pass into renal arteries. The procedure preserves flow to essential visceral arteries, allowing the AAA to be sealed.
“This minimally invasive procedure allows me to make a small incision in the groin and by using X-ray images, a tube-like device or graft, is threaded through a blood vessel to the location of the aneurysm to seal it off,” Hurie said. “The patient experiences less pain, fewer complications and shorter recovery times.”
Patients who receive this less invasive stent procedure are usually discharged from the hospital in two days, versus seven to 10 days with open aneurysm surgery.
“For patients in this region to have access to this fenestrated endograft could be the difference between life and death,” Hurie said.
The Zenith® Fenestrated AAA Endovascular Graft is manufactured by Cook Medical, Inc.
Media Relations
Chad Campbell: news@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-4587
Mac Ingraham: mingraha@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-3487