MINIMALLY INVASIVE PROCEDURE OK FOR WIDE RANGE OF AORTA PROBLEMS

Tens of thousands of Americans live with a ticking time bomb in their chests. Now, a new University of Michigan study demonstrates that many of them may not need surgery in order to defuse it. Instead, the research shows, a minimally-invasive procedure can repair a wide range of problems in the upper part of the aorta, the giant blood vessel leading out of the heart. In this region, called the thoracic aorta, the intense force of blood pulsing out of the heart can rip the aorta's walls apart or cause them to balloon outward, eventually leading to a rupture that brings almost certain death.
Innovations Report