Living with an aortic aneurysm can feel like you're waiting for an alarm to go off. You may have felt relief that you didn't need surgery right away. But as you've felt more chest pain and trouble breathing over time, you're likely worried about an aneurysm rupture. That can kill you.
The heart and vascular experts at UVA Health have the deep training, the newest tools, and the experience you can trust to answer your questions about your aortic aneurysm. By bringing together our heart and vascular specialists, genetic counselors, and other experts, we can pinpoint the cause of your symptoms and create a lifestyle and treatment plan that's right for you.
Aortic Aneurysm Repair With Stent-Grafts at UVA Health
Here, we can offer you aortic aneurysm repair without major surgery. You can avoid big cuts on your body and a long recovery time.
We can put in a stent-graft (a metal and fabric tube) to support your aorta. The procedure only uses a small cut. We put a tube into your blood vessels through the cut. Using that tube, we can put a stent-graft where it's needed.
What Are Stent-Grafts?
Stent-grafts are special tubes used to treat aneurysms. They're made of metal and fabric. They're stiff enough to be a support for your artery at the place you have an aneurysm. A stent-graft takes pressure off of your aneurysm. That can keep your aneurysm from growing.
Types of Stent-Grafts
We offer expertise in a variety of methods. We aim to repair your aneurysm in a way that is easy on your body while still being effective. These types of minimally invasive procedure causes less strain and stress to your system.
We specialize in:
How to Detect and Treat Aneurysms
When the aortic wall is disrupted, a degenerative process can lead to an aortic aneurysm. W. Darrin Clouse, MD, discusses the causes, symptoms and treatment of aortic aneurysms. View aortic transcript.
How Do You Put in the Stent-Graft?
Your surgeon makes a small cut (called an incision) by your groin. We put a thin tube (called a catheter) into one of your arteries through this cut. We move the catheter up through your blood vessels until it gets to your aortic aneurysm.
Then, we send the stent-graft through the catheter to the aneurysm. We place it where the aneurysm is found. It opens and supports your aorta. Blood flows through the stent-graft. That keeps it from pushing against the aneurysm. That slows down or stops the aneurysm from growing.