Surgeons Perform First Stent Graft Repair of Ruptured Aorta at The University Hospital

University Becomes One Of Five Sites In The World To Do So

Contact: Erika Taylor (513) 585-7200
Date: 08/23/2000

Cincinnati -- John Edwards, M.D., vascular surgeon, performed the area's first endograft stent graft repair of thoracic aortic traumatic disruption on August 10 at The University Hospital. The patient was a 72-year-old man severely injured in a car accident. Among his many injuries, the most immediately life-threatening one was a tear in the aorta, the major artery that carries blood from the heart to branch arteries throughout the rest of the body.

After being consulted by the trauma surgical team, Dr. Edwards determined that a stent graft could be performed and contacted the FDA for emergency approval to use the stent graft to repair the patient's ruptured aorta. The stent graft was originally approved for the treatment of aortic aneurysms in June 1999.

The surgeons make a small incision in each groin. From there, a catheter is threaded to the aorta. Enclosed in the tip of the catheter is the stent graft, a long, mesh-like tube made of a metal alloy called Nitinol. The stent graft is pushed out of the catheter and positioned in the aorta. As it reaches the temperature of the body, it expands to the size of the aorta, replacing the damaged portion of the vessel like a tube within a tube.

The University Hospital now joins the ranks of the University of France, Tokyo University, Arizona Heart Institute and Stanford as being the only places in the world that this surgery has been performed.

"A traumatic disruption of the aorta is a highly lethal injury, which usually requires major surgery to repair. That surgery usually includes a thoracotomy (a long incision made in the chest) to expose the aorta up at the base of the neck and down to the navel. The standard surgical repair then involves clamping of the aorta above and below the injury, which can be a very dangerous procedure in an unstable, multiply-injured patient. The injured aorta is then replaced by a short graft, which is sewn in place by the surgeon. Using this new procedure, the patient only needs a small incision in the groin. The endograft is then placed up in position in the aorta to exclude the injured portion of the vessel. This is done through a small incision in the groin. This markedly reduces the stress of the surgery on the patient," said Dr. John Edwards, vascular surgeon.

The Health Alliance is an integrated health care delivery system that includes The Christ Hospital, The University Hospital, The St. Luke Hospitals, The Jewish Hospital, The Fort Hamilton Hospital and the physicians of Alliance Primary Care.</font></p>