From UCLA
Aortic aneurysms can be treated well in a less dramatic fashion than the usual, large-scale surgical procedure in which patients are put on assisted circulation and their chests and abdomens both are opened simultaneously, researchers say. They say they've tracked recipients of an alternative procedure they've used since 1998 and which is gaining in popularity globally for high-risk cases. The condition can be akin to living with a ticking time bomb, as the weakened spot in the body's largest artery can blow out at any time, causing dire harm and death. Still, not all patients can withstand the standard surgical repair procedure -- their aneurysms are in tricky spots or they are in frail or compromised health, researchers say. So, instead, surgeons employ another tack: They first open the abdomen and reroute blood flow by performing bypass procedures on arteries near the aneurysm, installing prosthetic grafts that look like high-tech tubing; after patients have recovered and adjusted to the altered flows, a second procedure occurs. This time, doctors make a small incision in the groin and thread a tiny device, an endograft, through arteries to the spot of the aneurysm. There the device, in effect, relines the artery and takes care of the aneurysm. More than 10,000 Americans die annually from ruptured aortic aneurysms. The especially high-risk patients who, in the last decade, underwent the alternative procedure, fared in keeping with those who had the standard surgery, which researchers emphasized is still the standard of care, pending further study.
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