MUSC touts new medical device as life-saving treatment for aneurysms, tears in main artery - Charleston Post Courier

When Fredrick Deribas, a 69-year-old Surfside Beach resident, went to the Medical University of South Carolina with a torn aorta, helium was definite helium would request exigency surgery.

Earlier that day, Deribas went to his household doc for a crisp symptom successful his groin. It was the aforesaid symptom he’d felt connected and disconnected for years.

“Most of the time, it wasn’t severe,” Deribas told The Post and Courier.

But the symptom continued to turn much excruciating with each passing infinitesimal and X-rays performed by his section physician's bureau showed helium was suffering from an aortic dissection, a superior information successful which a teardrop occurs successful the interior furniture of the body’s main artery, oregon aorta.

Doctors rushed Deribas to a adjacent exigency aesculapian halfway fearing determination was much to his information than conscionable a torn aorta. There, doctors besides recovered an aneurysm, an abnormal bulge oregon ballooning successful the partition of a humor vessel, and rushed him to MUSC’s Aortic Center.

Both conditions are often deadly if near untreated.

For galore South Carolinians with uncontrolled hypertension the hazard of getting an aneurysm oregon dissection is high. According to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, 1 successful 3 radical successful the authorities has precocious humor pressure. And according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, little than 25 percent of adults successful the U.S. with hypertension person their information nether control.

MUSC houses 1 of the state's fewer Aortic Centers, offering patients entree to an array of aortic illness specialists, therapies and attraction options.

Dr. Sanford Zeigler is the manager of Thoracic Aortic Surgery astatine MUSC’s Aortic Center. Zeigler diagnosed Deribas with a chronic dissection and concluded that Deribas wouldn’t request exigency country aft all.

“I was fortunate,” Deribas said, talking astir his quality to instrumentality to Surfside Beach and suffer a small spot of value to trim the risks progressive with his operation. “Other radical don’t person that luxury,” helium added.

For galore radical who marque it to the infirmary with aortic dissections oregon aneurysms, doctors person to enactment rapidly and execute life-altering surgeries to forestall the aneurysm from bursting and further tearing the aorta.

But the hold gave Zeigler clip to bid a unsocial and recently released aortic instrumentality for Deribas’ country called the Thoraflex Hybrid frozen elephant trunk device.

The instrumentality is custom-made to outfit the diligent and combines a stent graft, a synthetic tube-like instrumentality utilized to regenerate a information of an artery, with a polyester gelweave graft with aggregate branches for humor vessels to tally through.

“There are nary 'elephant trunks' involved,” Zeigler said jokingly. The device's sanction is an honorary tribute to aboriginal scientists and doctors who treated aneurysms and dissections by placing patients successful crystal to execute the surgery.

To date, these types of surgeries usually necessitate a hypothermic circulatory apprehension which temporarily suspends humor travel nether precise acold assemblage temperatures, allowing humor travel to cease up to 40 minutes without harm to the patient.

The elephant trunk sanction comes from the device's arch-like shape. This peculiar instrumentality is the archetypal of its benignant and allows doctors to execute aorta repair operations faster and perchance reduces the fig of surgeries a diligent indispensable undergo.

Zeigler said a mean clip framework to reconstruct humor travel to the assemblage during this benignant of process is 45 minutes.

“With a frozen elephant trunk, I’m usually (able to instrumentality humor flow) successful 30 minutes,” Zeigler said.

The instrumentality was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration earlier this twelvemonth and according to officials from MUSC, the infirmary was the archetypal successful the Southeast portion to connection the instrumentality to patients.

“I consciousness truthful overmuch amended and I’m not connected immoderate much humor unit medicine,” Deribas said. “He saved my life.”

Unfortunately, the instrumentality is not disposable to each patients with aortic issues. Instead it goes to patients capable to beryllium treated successful non-emergency situations, which is considered uncommon erstwhile dealing with the risks of a burst aneurysm oregon a dangerously located dissection.

Doctors would person to enactment immediately, and the infirmary doesn’t transportation capable frozen elephant trunk devices for each diligent since they necessitate a unsocial fit.

But adjacent patients who are incapable to instrumentality vantage of the instrumentality are inactive successful bully hands, said Zeigler, who’s performed surgeries of this benignant for galore years.

Dr. James Benner is simply a thoracic surgeon astatine Trident Medical Center and precocious performed an aortic repair country connected an 80-year-old South Carolina resident.

Benner said without the elephant trunk device, doctors conception the instrumentality signifier with a mean stent graft and sew it into the descending portion of the aorta. Benner has adjacent reconstructed full ascending aortas by hand.

“It’s a neat instrumentality they have,” Benner said.

Both doctors hold that uncontrolled precocious humor unit is simply a cardinal contributor to aortic illness and aneurysms. 

For much accusation connected humor unit levels visit www.scdhec.gov/health/diseases-conditions/heart-disease-stroke/know-your-numbers.