research capabilities, and that allows
manufacturers of devices and other
items to test products in a wellcontrolled clinical environment that
focuses on patients’ needs first. “Stateof-the-art imaging equipment such
as the intravascular ultrasound device
as well as the vascular and endovascular
surgery suite that opened at Scott
& White’s Temple campus in 2011
have made Scott & White a desirable
center for medical manufacturers
to conduct clinical trials,” says
Dr. Atkins. “We have a whole
embedded research division for all
these different technologies.”
The vascular surgical team’s
dedication to research means that
patients in Central Texas do not have
to wait for the latest technology.
“The devices we are using now are
five to seven years away from being
commercially available,” Dr. Atkins
says. “A huge part of why we participate
in research is to benefit the patients and
to bring the latest technology to them
much sooner.”
One of the trial devices at Scott
& White, a dissection endovascular
system, treats aortic dissection, a lifethreatening tear in the inner wall of
the aorta that forces blood into the
layers of the aortic wall and can block
blood flow to vital organs and the legs.
Dr. Atkins is enthusiastic about the
possibilities offered by such a device,
since aortic dissection can be very
difficult to treat.
Dr. Atkins says, “The dissection
device is the only one available that
uses a covered stent graft to cover the
entry tear at the top of the aorta, and
it uses uncovered bare metal stents to
push back together all the layers down
the rest of the aorta. This induces
healing of the aorta and prevents late
aneurysm formation.” Three Scott
& White patients have enrolled in
the dissection trial, which so far is
achieving its goal of successfully
repairing the aortic tear and inducing
aortic remodeling.
The last device being tested at
Scott & White, an endovascular
sealing system, improves upon the
first generation of endovascular stent
grafts for patients with abdominal
aortic aneurysms. It prevents
“endoleaks,” blood leakage through the
side of the blood vessels being repaired.
If a CT scan detects an endoleak one
month after surgery—which happens
15 percent of the time, Dr. Atkins says—
a patient must have a CAT scan
every six to 12 months to make sure the
aneurysm sac doesn’t begin to enlarge.
The device implants a tube within
the aorta so that blood will run past
the aneurysm without filling it. It
also has a sac around these tubes, and
the sac is inflated with polymer to
completely fill the aneurysm cavity and
thus avoid endoleaks.
Another advantage of this device is
that the surgery can be percutaneous—
through the skin. “This is a tremendous
benefit for patients, because t