Doctors at the Libin Cardiovascular Institute are using a specialized stent to repair bulges in the aorta and say the leading-edge procedure reduces the impact on the patient and improves recovery time.

Aortic aneurysms happen when the wall of the main artery that supplies oxygenated blood to the rest of the body weakens causing the aorta to bulge like a balloon.

When the bulges occur in the upper aorta, they usually require open-heart surgery to repair, which is extremely invasive.

“Many patients are old or frail, which makes open-heart surgery very risky. This new procedure is done without dividing the sternum bone and spreading the ribs and is therefore less invasive and offers patients a better chance of recovery,” says AHS cardiac surgeon Dr. Jehangir Appoo. “It also shortens their hospital stay from a few weeks to just a few days.”

One patient in the province has already undergone the procedure called endovascular total arch reconstruction.

A team of cardiac experts uses a specialized stent graft, or tube, which is custom built to match a patient’s anatomy and aorta branches.

The surgeon makes incisions on either side of the neck and at the groin and using X-ray, guides pieces of the stent through the arteries towards the heart.

Once the stent meets the branch in the aorta where the aneurysm occurred, it is used to reinforce the aorta’s wall.

“This is tremendous news for patients. This minimally invasive procedure means we can reinforce the wall of the aorta without having to open their chest and perform invasive surgery,” Dr. Appoo says. “At the end of the day, for a select group of patients, it’s a much safer operation.”

Doctors are also using the procedure to treat aneurysms that occur in the descending aorta, which runs through the abdomen and feeds the lower half of the body with oxygenated blood.

Dr. Imtiaz Ali, Chief of Cardiac Surgery with Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta, says endovascular total arch reconstruction has opened a new chapter in cardiac surgery in the province.

“In the past, many patients were forced to live with this condition because they were unable to undergo invasive surgery to correct their aortic aneurysms,” said Dr Imtiaz.

The whole procedure takes about six hours and so far has been only been tried about 40 times worldwide.