Abdominal Aortic Aneurism

Friedrichshafen Clinic in Germany offers surgical treatment of all kinds of cardio-vascular and visceral dysfunctions and general surgery services. The department of general, visceral and vascular surgery, guided by Prof. Dr. Thorsten Lehmann, offers a wide range of new surgery methods for treatment of abdominal aneurism. Annually about 1500 surgeries take place at this department.

Description of Abdomnal aortic aneurism. Therapeutic methods

Aortic aneurism is a life threatening condition that is displayed in the atrophy of elastic fibers and thinning aortic walls. During the beat blood comes to aorta under high pressure. The vessel risks to break down.

In Germany the doctors use the following treatment methods for abdominal aortic aneurism:

• Open surgery;
• Endovascular therapy;
• ЕАТ;
• EVAR;
• Laparoscopic surgery.

Open surgery in Germany

The open surgery in case of abdominal aortic aneurism is the most common practice in Germany aimed at vessel replacement. The size of incision is usually 10-20 cm. After access to the pathologic area is provided, a doctor crosses aorta above and below the aneurism, installs the vascular implant and drain tube. Providing air-tight sutures is an important part of the surgery, as it aims at eliminating post-surgical bleeding.

The doctors in our clinic use vascular implants with silver impregnation that makes them more resistant to various infections. In general the abdominal aortic aneurism surgery takes 4 hours. Then the patient is moved into resuscitation ward for supervision. Standard hospital stay after such surgery in Germany lasts 7 days.

Endovascular therapy in Germany

Endovascular therapy is minimally invasive surgical intervention that is executed via the artery opening, without incision of soft tissues. In abdominal aortic aneurism endovascular stenting is used, including EAT and EVAR surgeries. A stent is a special tube with a frame that the blood flows through. It unloads the weak aortic area. As a result abdominal aortic aneurism will not rupture, eliminating the hazard to patient’s life.

The advantages of endovascular therapy compared with open surgery include:

• the absence of soft tissues damage;
• there is no need to clamp the aorta, therefore there will be no related complications;
• the internals are not affected by poor blood supply during such intervention;
• the heart doesn’t experience additional loads;
• minimally invasive therapy for abdominal aortic aneurism implies smaller stress for the organism;
• there is no need in narcosis, only local anesthesia is used;
• The term of hospital stay is twice shorter.

A patient gets local anesthesia in the area of femoral artery projection (the outer side of a hip). A surgeon makes a small incision on the vessel wall and inserts endovascular tube with a stent inside, transporting it to abdominal aorta, going to the place of aneurism location. Then a surgeon opens the stent, its top and bottom parts tightly fit healthy vessel walls, encapsulating the abdominal aortic aneurism inside.

If the aneurysm is located in bifurcated aorta segment, the surgery lasts longer. It requires two stents that are joined together in the aneurysm location.

In Germany after such surgery a patient stays in hospital for up to 10 days.

Endovascular implants in Germany

Endovascular implants or stents consist of a metal grid construction and a special cover. Clinics in Germany distinguish twp types of implants for abdominal aortic aneurism treatment in Germany:

• cone-shaped and cylinder-shaped implants - for thoratic and abdominal aortic areas;
• bifurcational endovascular stent is used for the bifurcation zone of the aorta. Bifurcational stent consists of 2 parts that are joined together during the surgery.

Laparoscopic treatment of abdominal aortic aneurism in Germany

Laparoscopic surgery belongs to minimally invasive methods. The access to pathologic area is provided by a few punctures of the anterior abdominal wall. A surgeon uses laparoscopic instruments and controls all manipulations on a special monitor that shows the image from camera inserted into the abdominal cavity.

Such treatment has a few advantages:

• minimal damage of soft tissues;
• decreased risks of possible complications;
• quicker rehabilitation after the surgery.

If you suffer from abdominal aortic aneurism, our experienced team, professional surgeons and anesthesiologists will help you to fight the disease and come back to normal life. Should you need any information about treatment in Germany or German clinics, don’t hesitate to call us.