INNOVATION | to heal patients and give them hope
“ e were actually able to get Gary’s device
W
built specially for him based upon his specific
anatomy. It’s exciting that we can really
customize the devices for individual patients.”
—Marvin D. Atkins, Jr., MD
Customized devices for
individual patients
One of the devices, a fenestrated
endovascular graft, was approved
for commercial use by the FDA in
2012. Scott & White is participating
in clinical trials for the other two
devices as well. All three of them are
unique in the field of medicine because
the devices are fitted to the patients’
needs, as the location of an aneurysm
along the aorta determines the specific
endovascular device needed, which
is essentially a customized stent that
ensures proper blood flow.
The fenestrated endovascular graft
can help surgeons fix aneurysms above
the kidneys (unlike earlier models),
without fear of interrupting blood flow
from the aorta to the renal (kidney)
arteries. Dr. Atkins had participated
in the clinical trial for the device as
a postgraduate fellow in vascular and
endovascular surgery at Massachusetts
General Hospital in Boston. That
training allowed him to bring the
device to Scott & White, which is
one of only three hospitals in Texas,
and one of the few in the country,
to offer it.
Dr. Marvin Atkins and Dr. Todd
Bohannon discuss the minimally
invasive stent graft surgery with
patient Gary Ward.
20
THE CATALYST August 14 | sw.org
The first patient benefits
In February, 67-year-old Gary Ward
of Temple became the first Scott &
White patient to receive the fenestrated
endovascular graft. Mr. Ward had
an undiagnosed abdominal aortic
aneurysm, discovered on a computerized
axial tomography (CAT) scan during a
follow-up to an unrelated surgery. The
normal diameter for the aorta is 2.0
to 2.5 centimeters, and Mr. Ward’s
aneurysm was 5.5 centimeters. “It was
a shock to me,” he says. Dr. Atkins and
vascular surgeon Todd Bohannon, MD,
performed the surgery successfully. The
surgeons first used his preoperative
CT scan to measure Mr. Ward’s aorta
and aneurysm. The measurements
were sent to the device manufacturer’s
center in Australia, where a stent graft
was custom-made for Mr. Ward. “We
were actually able to get Gary’s device
built specially for him based upon his
specific anatomy. It’s exciting that we
can really customize the devices for
individual patients,” says Dr. Atkins.
“I was terribly excited to get it,”
says Mr. Ward, “because the alternative
was to have an open abdominal
surgery. I was terrified of that and the
recovery time.” Open surgery to repair
an abdominal aneurysm can last four
to six hours and the full recovery time
can sometimes take months. Minimally
invasive surgery for a stent graft
lasts just a few hours. Like most
patients who undergo endograft
surgery, Mr. Ward went home the
following day. He recovered in a
matter of weeks. “The recovery time
after the surgery was fantastic,” he
says. “I’m extremely pleased at how
everything turned out.” Since then,
three more patients have had the
device implanted, all with good results.
A perfect fit for clinical trials
Scott & White’s infrastructure
includes innovative technologies and