NYC first: Complex aneurysm treated using new fenestrated endograft stent

While the fenestrated endograft procedure takes more time and skill than repair of standard aneurysms, "there is not much difference for the patient, who can leave the hospital in a few days and return to normal activities in a week," says Dr. Angeliki Vouyouka, who performed the surgery alongside Dr. McKinsey. She is a vascular surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and assistant professor of surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College.

As with more common varieties of endovascular repair, advantages of the fenestrated endograft are expected to include less pain, fewer complications, reduced hospital stay and quicker recovery compared with open surgery.

Symptoms for abdominal aortic aneurysms may include a pulsing feeling in the abdomen, or unexplained severe pain in their abdomen or lower back.

"Often abdominal aortic aneurysms have no symptoms, so screening is very important," says Dr. McKinsey.

Any person aged 50 and older with a family history of abdominal aortic aneurysm, or anyone aged 65 and older with cardiovascular risk factors, should be screened by a vascular surgeon for the condition. Risk for abdominal aortic aneurysm increases with age, with an estimated 5 percent of men age 60 and older diagnosed with the condition.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital at both Columbia University Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medical Center is one of only a few sites in the U.S. that are currently approved to study the fenestrated graft. The device is already approved for general use in Canada, the European Union, Australia and New Zealand.

For more information on the clinical trial, or to refer a patient for evaluation, contact Diana Catz at (212) 342-4102 at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia or Erin Magennis at (212) 746-5949 at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital