Strong Heart and Vascular Center
Division of Vascular Surgery
Endovascular Surgery
As opposed to traditional, open surgery, endovascular surgery
is performed from within the blood vessel—artery or vein.
We always hope to be able to perform endovascular repair of
an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Fortunately, even patients with
serious medical problems are now often good candidates for
an endovascular graft. But it all depends on your condition.
Endovascular grafts don’t work for everyone. That's why
we perform several vascular
diagnostic tests to make the decision—and
to determine the size of the metal tube we will need to insert
to support the vessel wall.
Most often, endovascular surgery is used to treat both
aneurysms and narrowing (stenosis
or occlusion) of blood vessels.
How Endovascular Surgery Works
Endovascular surgery doesn’t even require general anesthesia.
We reach the damaged area of the blood vessel through an easy-to-access
smaller artery. Then, we insert a catheter (a long plastic tube)
into
the artery
and move it toward the aneurysm or blockage.
When fixing an aneurysm, we insert a hollow metal tube up to
the aneurysm and lock it into place so it supports the artery
wall
at the weak spot.
When repairing a narrowed artery, we perform a type of balloon
angioplasty. First, we insert a balloon
into the vessel and move it to the restriction. Then, we inflate
the balloon and insert a stent into
the narrowed part of the vessel. After we deflate and remove
the balloon, the
stent expands to hold the artery walls open allowing for increased
blood flow.
Benefits of Endovascular Surgery
Endovascular surgery is so attractive compared to conventional
surgery for two primary reasons: shorter recovery time and reduced
patient risk.
In addition, endovascular surgery offers the same benefits
as other types of minimally invasive surgery, including:
-
Less pain
-
No general anesthesia
-
Reduced risk of complications
-
Less trauma to the body and
heart
-
Reduced likelihood of losing blood
-
Less scarring
-
Shorter hospital stay
-
Faster recovery
Risks of Endovascular Surgery
We’ve performed standard vascular surgery for more
than 5 decades. But we’ve only been using endovascular
techniques for the past 8 years. At this time, we haven't collected
adequate data to provide the long-term results of endovascular
surgery.
However, it does appear that endovascular procedures may not
be as durable (stay open or work) as many of the conventional
surgical
approaches. Be assured we will continue to monitor and follow-up
with our patients in order to develop a body of research
about the long-term results of endovascular surgery.
In the meantime, we continue to recommend surgeries to our
patients on a customized, individual basis while weighing
the benefits
and risks of each type of procedure.
Our surgeons who perform endovascular surgery
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