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06.02.2019 08:04:47
In the Department of Vascular Surgery in the Grosshadern Campus of the University Hospital of Munich a patient with a ruptured aortic aneurysm was inserted a customized stent.
According to the hospital, the first operation of this kind in Munich was performed by Professor Nicholas Tsilimbaris, who since September 2018 has been the head of the newly established department.
The hospital reports that the patient was hospitalized with severe back pain. A life-threatening acute aortic rupture was diagnosed. Only emergency surgery could save the life of the 79-year-old man.
Major surgery that involves opening the chest and abdomen was associated with high risks in this case. And it would have taken at least 6 weeks to order and manufacture an aortic prosthesis in Australia. The patient did not have time.
The report says that at that moment Tsilimbaris’s experience was set in motion. The drawing of the host-adapted prosthesis was made by using a special computer program. The so-called “surgeon-modified” prosthesis was altered straight in the operating room.
According to the clinic, two hours passed until the prosthesis was precisely adjusted to the patient. It was important to bring the outlets of the renal, hepatic and intestinal arteries to the right places on the prosthesis.
Then the prosthesis was minimally invasively inserted into the patient through the groin. The operation lasted a total of 5 hours. It passed without complications, and the patient was able to leave the hospital two weeks later.
Treatment of patients with a ruptured aortic aneurysm is still problematic, primarily due to lack of time, the hospital reports. New endovascular techniques make it possible to use new minimally invasive techniques with enough time to plan and make a suitable prosthesis.
However, in critical situations, only a few specialists around the world have the technical equipment and practical knowledge necessary for the know-how. Tsilimbaris is one of the experts who in an emergency situation have the ability to modify a stent with holes and side branches on their own.
According to the hospital, he learned this special technique during his studies at Emory University (USA).
