OSF surgical team selected for graft trial

The vascular surgery team at HeartCare Midwest has been selected to participate in a trial of the Zenith Fenestrated Aortic Endograft, one of only 30 teams selected worldwide. This one-of-a-kind graft is manufactured in Australia by Cook Medical.

Members of the HeartCare Midwest vascular team are: Dr. Syed Hussain, Dr. Nabeel Rana and Dr. Jennifer Ash.

The technology will help patients with aortic aneurysms, an enlargement of the aorta. Without treatment, patients are at risk for sudden death.

“The traditional treatment for this is to use a stent graft covered in fabric to help close the gap, similar to relining a pipe,” explains Rana. “With the previous graft, we were limited by the anatomy of the patient. If the location of the aneurysm spanned several organs, it was difficult to fit the graft around them.”

The new graft is fenestrated, meaning there are holes to fit around organs. Each graft is custom made to accommodate the patient’s anatomy.

Before this new graft was created the HeartCare Midwest vascular team had to perform open surgeries on about 10-20 percent of patients, which is a more invasive procedure. The new technology allows these patients to be treated much less invasively and go home within a few days and have a much shorter recovery period.

In addition to helping more patients, by serving as a pioneer of the new technology the HeartCare Midwest team is helping establish OSF Saint Francis as a world leader in the vascular field.

“We try to remain on the cutting edge of new trials, because new technology ultimately makes what we do safer for the patient," Rana said