Apollo Hospitals Enterprise : , Chennai successfully performed a rare and complex Interventional procedure on an 80 year old man

An Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) is a dilation (ballooning) of part of the aorta that is within the abdomen. It usually causes no symptoms unless it ruptures when it is often fatal.

Surgeons said that the procedure was rare as the aneurysm was 100 mm wide and the risk of rupture was extremely high.

"An AAA less than 55 mm wide has a low chance of rupture. However, intervention may be required to repair any aneurysm if it is larger than 55 mm, as above this size the risk of rupture increases significantly," said Dr Vijayachandra Reddy, Senior Consultant and Interventional Cardiologist at Apollo Hospitals,Chennai who led the team.

The patient approached the doctors with severe lower back and abdominal pain a few months ago. "When we ran tests, we were shocked to find that the patient had an aneurysm with the size of a small balloon in his abdomen. The fact that he had multiple health complications like diabetes, blood pressure, lung and kidney problems and muscle weakness made the procedure very challenging," said the doctor.

As the patient had several co-morbid conditions, the doctors could not risk putting him through a surgery or perform a stent grafting. 'We repaired the aneurysm using a hybrid procedure which is a mix of both surgical and interventional techniques. We placed two stents and a vascular plug as part of the interventional technique and did a mini bypass surgery as well," said Dr Reddy.

The entire procedure was done under spinal anesthesia and lasted for an hour and a half. The patient recovered post the procedure and is currently stable.