Stent-Grafts: Aortic Aneurysm Repair Without Surgery
Make an Appointment
Living with an aortic aneurysm can feel like you're waiting for an alarm to go off. You may have felt relief that you didn't need surgery right away. But as you've felt more chest pain and trouble breathing over time, you're likely worried about an aneurysm rupture. That can kill you.
The heart and vascular experts at UVA Health have the deep training, the newest tools, and the experience you can trust to answer your questions about your aortic aneurysm. By bringing together our heart and vascular specialists, genetic counselors, and other experts, we can pinpoint the cause of your symptoms and create a lifestyle and treatment plan that's right for you.
Aortic Aneurysm Repair With Stent-Grafts at UVA Health
Here, we can offer you aortic aneurysm repair without major surgery. You can avoid big cuts on your body and a long recovery time.
We can put in a stent-graft (a metal and fabric tube) to support your aorta. The procedure only uses a small cut. We put a tube into your blood vessels through the cut. Using that tube, we can put a stent-graft where it's needed.
What Are Stent-Grafts?
Stent-grafts are special tubes used to treat aneurysms. They're made of metal and fabric. They're stiff enough to be a support for your artery at the place you have an aneurysm. A stent-graft takes pressure off of your aneurysm. That can keep your aneurysm from growing.
Types of Stent-Grafts
We offer expertise in a variety of methods. We aim to repair your aneurysm in a way that is easy on your body while still being effective. These types of minimally invasive procedure causes less strain and stress to your system.
We specialize in:
How to Detect and Treat Aneurysms
When the aortic wall is disrupted, a degenerative process can lead to an aortic aneurysm. W. Darrin Clouse, MD, discusses the causes, symptoms and treatment of aortic aneurysms.
The aorta is a tube which supplies blood to the entire body. It�s the main artery of the body. When that aortic wall, and the physiology of the aortic wall is disrupted, blockages can occur, via atherosclerosis, or that process, that degenerative process can lead to gradual dilatation of the aorta. The gradual dilatation of the aorta is an aneurysm. Aortic aneurysms are common in people as they age. What happens is that there aren�t any real symptoms of an aneurysm, per se. But as it gradually grows, it increases its risk of rupture. Aortic aneurysms can develop symptoms other than rupture. These generally are a global, kind of nagging abdominal pain. They might have back pain. There can be a sensation of tiredness or malaise. Sometimes we�re concerned about aneurysms or the aneurysm wall becoming infected. Patients at high risk for their aortic wall degenerating into an aneurysm are patients who smoke, patients who have lung disease, patients who have high blood pressure, patients who have a family history or a genetic predisposition to aneurysms. Also, patients who have what�s called connective tissue disease. The treatment of aneurysms at UVA involves multiple specialties; vascular surgeons, cardiac surgeons, and interventional radiologists all looking at these aneurysms and determining whether they should be treated with an open operation or whether less invasive endovascular aneurysm repair is feasible.
Your surgeon makes a small cut (called an incision) by your groin. We put a thin tube (called a catheter) into one of your arteries through this cut. We move the catheter up through your blood vessels until it gets to your aortic aneurysm.
Then, we send the stent-graft through the catheter to the aneurysm. We place it where the aneurysm is found. It opens and supports your aorta. Blood flows through the stent-graft. That keeps it from pushing against the aneurysm. That slows down or stops the aneurysm from growing.
Aortic & Artery Treatments
- Refer a Patient
- What Are Stent-Grafts?
- Open Aortic Aneurysm Surgery
- Aortoiliac Atherosclerosis Treatment
- Angioplasty & Atherectomy Angioplasty & Atherectomy
- Carotid Endarterectomy
- Genetic Counselors
- Heart Bypass Surgery
- Valve-Sparing Aortic Root Replacement (David Procedure)
- Back to Heart & Vascular