Dr. Paul DiMuzio, examining a scan of a AAA
Traditionally abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) – bulges in the major artery that can rupture in an often catastrophic, life-threatening event – required major surgery to repair.
But that has changed in recent years with the rise of so-called endovascular repairs. These repairs fix the aneurysm from within the aorta by using stents inserted through small incisions or punctures in the upper thigh.
In a recent article, The Philadelphia Inquirer explained how most patients with AAAs now undergo the minimally invasive endovascular repair instead of surgery. In fact, the advent of new “fenestrated” stents has allowed even more patients to undergo the minimally invasive repairs.
As vascular surgeon Paul DiMuzio, MD, co-director of the Jefferson Vascular Center and director of the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Jefferson, told The Inquirer, “It really has been a big change since the 1990s.”
And ultimately, Dr. DiMuzio explained the change has resulted in dramatically improved recoveries for patients; reducing 10-day hospital stays and 2-month recoveries to hospitalizations for two or three days and recoveries of two weeks or less.
You can read the entire Inquirer article here.
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