Jill Bloom
410-601-5025
[email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 1999
SINAI PHYSICIANS USE EXPERIMENTAL DEVICE TO TREAT ELDERLY MAN FOR POTENTIALLY LIFE THREATENING CONDITION
An 88-year-old Baltimore man was successfully treated at Sinai Hospital for an abdominal aortic aneurysm, a potentially life threatening condition, using a minimally-invasive procedure in which an FDA-approved, experimental hand-made stent graft was placed in the aorta where the aneurysm occurred.
The stent graft, a small tube, the diameter of the artery, made of flexible synthetic material surrounding a metal/mesh cylinder, was hand-sewn specifically for the patient, by Maxwell Lazinger, M.D., a vascular and interventional radiologist and one of the physicians who performed the procedure. Sinai Hospital has special FDA approval to make the experimental stent grafts.
"There are very few community hospitals that have this kind of technology and the medical expertise to perform these kind of interventional and surgical procedures," said Lazinger, who along with vascular surgeon Juan M. Juanteguy, M.D., radiologist David M. Widlus, M.D. and anesthesiologist Aaron Zuckerberg, M.D., performed the procedure.
"The patient was a perfect candidate for this procedure," said Juanteguy who is also chief of Thoracic and Vascular Surgery at Sinai Hospital and chief of Surgery at Northwest Hospital Center, both LifeBridge Health centers. "Abdominal aortic aneurysms occur more frequently in people over the age of 60. And for this group of patients major surgery of this kind can carry increased risk. With this procedure we can avoid opening the abdomen and a long recovery period in an Intensive Care Unit." The recovery time for this minimally invasive procedure, known as a transfemoral endovascular aneurysm repair is much less than conventional surgery, with some patients able to go home in two days.
Under general or epidural anesthesia, a small incision is made in the femoral artery located in the groin area. A delivery sheath is threaded through the artery, under x-ray guidance, into the aorta at the site of the aneurysm. Then, a stent graft is loaded into the sheath and released across the aneurysm. The stent graft then expands like a spring, cutting off blood flow in the aneurysm.
"While this procedure is still experimental, I believe it has a great future because of its simplicity and because it is much better tolerated by very sick patients," said Juanteguy. "For those reasons, we anticipate a significant increase in the number of these procedures performed at Sinai over the upcoming year."
An aneurysm occurs when the wall of a blood vessel becomes weakened, causing a bulge. An abdominal aortic aneurysm occurs in the aorta, one of the large arteries that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body. These aneurysms are potentially life threatening because they can rupture, causing massive internal bleeding and even death.
Five percent of men over 60 develop abdominal aortic aneurysms.
The procedure was performed in Sinai Hospital's new endovascular suite. The room is designed to handle complex, but minimally invasive procedures that require x-ray guidance. The room features state-of-the-art digital imaging equipment and it can serve as an operating room if needed.
LifeBridge Health is a regional health organization that includes Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Northwest Hospital Center, Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital and related subsidiaries and affiliates.
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