Surgeons at UW Hospital have performed the state's first endovascular graft for a thoracic aneurysm.
Doctors and the 71 year old patient were on hand Monday to show how the new procedure is performed.
A thoracic aortic aneurysm is a ballooning of the wall of the aorta…
The endovascular graft is a large fabric covered stent that helps support the wall of the aorta.
Previously, patients had to undergo invasive surgery to allow the surgeons to sew the walls of the aorta together. This new process is much less invasive, but not everybody will be a candidate for the new type of surgery.
"Certainly people with thoracic aneurysms who have the correct anatomy it will be used in those patients," says UW vascular surgeon Dr. Charles Acher.
The patient was not a good candidate for the old kind of surgery and with this new process she is doing fine just a few days after her operation.
