ISLAMABAD: Pakistani doctors successfully performed their first endovascular stent graft implant for a deadly anatomical time bomb called abdominal aortic aneurysm.
A team of Pakistani doctors, led by Vascular and Endovascular Surgeon Dr Syed Naseem Haider, performed the implant at Quaid-e-Azam International Hospital Islamabad.
Talking to the media after the procedure, Dr. Naseem Haider said that the aortic aneurysm occurred due to the weakening of the wall of body’s largest blood vessels.
“If left untreated, the growing bubble can burst without any warning at any time, causing massive bleeding, followed by shock and almost certain death. These ‘time bombs’ don’t go away by themselves,” he said.
Dr Naseem said that conventional surgery to repair this aortic aneurysm has a lot of complications and has a five per cent risk of death. This new less invasive surgery called Endovascular Aneurysm Repair (EVAR) has changed the management of these patients.
“In this new technique, the repair was done with a specially designed polyester hose which was loaded into a tiny sleeve and snaked to the aneurysm through a blood vessel in the leg,” he added.
He said that the surgeons inserted a catheter into the femoral arteries in the legs and used radiography to guide the hose into the damaged area of the aorta. Once the hose was placed, they removed the sleeve and opened the sheath springs to hug the wall of aorta. Surgical hooks on the hose grabbed the wall and affixed the patch.
He said “Results were dramatically different from those of open surgery and in this procedure the patient can take solid food on same night of surgery and even go back home within next two to three days.”
Quaid-e-Azam International Hospital Founder and CEO Dr Shaukat Ali Bangash congratulated Dr Naseem Haider and his team for performing this unique procedure.
He said that Quaid-e-Azam international hospital has become the pioneer institution for less invasive surgery. It can now offer this surgery for any kind of aortic pathology.
He said “the hospital has a team of qualified vascular and endovascular surgeons, cardiothoracic surgeons, cardiologists, trained radiologists, anaesthetists and fully equipped theatres and vascular labs.”