Oct 30, 2008 5:52 pm US/Eastern
Md. Doctors Make Aortic Tear Repair Easier
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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One of the deadliest injuries sustained in a car crash is an aortic tear, but doctors in Baltimore are increasing survival with a minimally invasive procedure.
Every year, tens of thousands of Americans are killed in car crashes.
Healthwatch reporter Kellye Lynn explains how doctors in Baltimore are increasing survival with a minimally invasive procedure.
One of the deadliest injuries sustained in a car crash is an aortic tear. Now doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center are giving patients hope by giving them a less invasive option.
On the road, headed to work on Sept. 15, 2005, Robert Hody says it's a day he'll always remember.
"Less than a mile from my home, someone ran a red light, boned me in the driver-side door of my almost subcompact car," said Robert.
Robert sustained serious injuries in the side impact crash.
"It broke off the top of my femur," said Robert.
The crash also caused internal bleeding down his leg, a punctured lung because of broken ribs and lacerated kidneys.
Hours later, doctors discovered an injury so severe, it could have taken Robert's life.
There was a tear in the largest artery in the body, the aorta.
"In a sudden crash, the moving part moves, the stable part stays still and tears at a pretty predictable spot," said Dr. David Neschis.
Dr. Neschis of the University of Maryland Medical Center says 85 percent of patients who have an aortic tear die.
Of those who make it to the hospital, 30 percent don't survive, and eight percent become paralyzed.
Now, a new minimally invasive technique is improving the odds.
"We've been fixing the aorta from the inside by making a small incision in the leg, passing a catheter up from the inside and deploying a graft inside the aorta to cover the hole up," said Dr. Neschis.
Instead of making a large incision in the chest, doctors insert the graft through a leg artery then deploy it at the site of the tear. Patients have a faster recovery and fewer risks.
"The patients don't have to have the chest opened up, don't have to have their aorta clamped. The risk of paraplegia is almost zero," said Dr. Neschis.
Patients who have the less invasive endograft procedure can go home from the hospital in a couple of days compared to a week with the more invasive approach.
University of Maryland doctors have performed 39 less invasive aorta repairs.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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