Aortic Aneurysm Procedures | Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Hospital

Elective endograft repair

One treatment choice for an aortic aneurysm—a bulge in the section of the body’s main artery— that we perform here in our Dallas heart center includes a minimally invasive surgical procedure known as elective endograft repair.

During this procedure,vascular surgeonson the medical staff atBaylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Hospital – Dallasuse imaging technology and guide wires to insert a metal tube, or endograft, through the femoral artery to the diseased or damaged section of the aorta. The endograft is then expanded for a tight fit against the artery wall, allowing blood to flow.

Advantages to this type of endovascular repair may include a two- to three-day hospital stay, versus seven or eight days with open techniques, a two-week total recovery time and fewer complications than open repair surgery.

Two vascular surgeons in blue scrubs perform a heart operation in the OR

Elective open repair

Like the elective endograft repair procedure, vascular surgeons on the Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Hospital – Dallas medical staff may suggest elective open aortic aneurysm repair surgery to expand a blocked aortic artery depending on a patient’s health and related risk factors.

Considered to be open-heart surgery, vascular patients typically take three to six months to recover compared to patients treated through endograft repair, who usually return to daily living activities within two to six weeks of the procedure.

Elective open repair

Like the elective endograft repair procedure, vascular surgeons on the Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Hospital – Dallas medical staff may suggest elective open aortic aneurysm repair surgery to expand a blocked aortic artery depending on a patient’s health and related risk factors.

Considered to be open-heart surgery, vascular patients typically take three to six months to recover compared to patients treated through endograft repair, who usually return to daily living activities within two to six weeks of the procedure.

Three vascular surgeons in blue scrubs perform a heart surgery in the operating room

Fenestrated/branched grafts

In 2015, Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Hospital – Dallas became one of only a handful of trial sites in the country to perform endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repairs for blocked arteries using an innovative new graft—the fenestrated aortic stent graft.

这个支架允许血管外科医生在medical staff to perform minimally invasive aneurysm repair to treat more vascular patients when an aneurysm is located close to major branch arteries.

The previous treatment option for abdominal aortic aneurysm repair required a major open-heart operation.

A family of four sit on a couch and smile while talking with each other

Thoracic endovascular aortic repair

As another option to open-heart surgery aneurysm repair, the surgeon may consider a procedure called endovascular aneurysm repair (also referred to EVAR, TEVAR or TA-EVAR).

The heart surgeon makes a small incision in a vascular patient's groin to insert a thin, long tube called a catheter to guide a stent graft through the blood vessels to the diseased segment of the aorta.

The stent is then positioned in the aorta's diseased segment to "re-align" it and direct blood flow away from an aneurysm.

Thoracic endovascular aortic repair

As another option to open-heart surgery aneurysm repair, the surgeon may consider a procedure called endovascular aneurysm repair (also referred to EVAR, TEVAR or TA-EVAR).

The heart surgeon makes a small incision in a vascular patient's groin to insert a thin, long tube called a catheter to guide a stent graft through the blood vessels to the diseased segment of the aorta.

The stent is then positioned in the aorta's diseased segment to "re-align" it and direct blood flow away from an aneurysm.