New Stent Procedure for Minimally Invasive Treatment of Difficult Brain Aneurysms

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

New Brunswick, NJ - A brain aneurysm can be a potentially deadly or debilitating condition, but doctors at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital are now able to treat some brain aneurysms with a minimally invasive technique, rather than open surgery.

Vascular procedures have been performed on eight patients since the beginning of the year with good results using a catheter to deliver a special stent to the blood vessel and clot off the aneurysm with a coil.

"Treatment usually involves surgery to open the skull and clamp the aneurysm to repair a rupture or prevent one. Some patients are candidates for treatment with a coil that is fed through the blood vessel and into the aneurysm where it will clot and heal," said Dr. Sudipta (Sid) Roychowdhury, MD, attending neuroradiologist at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. "When the neck of the aneurysm, where it bulges from the blood vessel, is too wide, a coil cannot be used because it falls out of the aneurysm back into the blood vessel."

"Using a special flexible stent to bridge the neck of the aneurysm, the coil can be fed through the blood vessel and through the stent into the aneurysm. The stent holds the coil in allowing the aneurysm to clot," said Dr. Roychowdhury.

"This new technique offers patients presenting with difficult to treat brain aneurysms a new option associated with good results and fewer potential complications," said Dr. Michael G. Nosko, MD, chief of neurosurgery at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. "Patients of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital have the benefit of new treatment options that make difficult cases more routine and have better outcomes."

An aneurysm is a bulge in a blood vessel that can rupture if not treated.

Brain aneurysms are usually diagnosed and treated after rupture, but are sometimes diagnosed and treated beforehand to prevent rupture from occurring. When a brain aneurysm ruptures, blood flows into the space surrounding the brain (the subarachnoid space), resulting in a subarachnoid hemorrhage, the deadliest form of stroke. Each year approximately 30,000 people in the United States suffer a ruptured brain aneurysm, and more than 50 percent of these patients die within the first 30 days after rupture.

The new procedure uses an especially thin and flexible stent approved for use in cerebral aneurysms, the Neuroform™ stent from Boston Scientific. Using a catheter inserted into a blood vessel near the groin, the stent is delivered to the site where it straddles the neck of the aneurysm. Embolic coils are threaded through the stent into the aneurysm. The stent provides a barrier to hold the embolic coils within the aneurysm. The coils cause clotting that helps to block blood from going into the aneurysm and may help to keep it from rupturing.

About Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

Selected as one of three hospitals nationwide to offer the world's first self-contained implantable artificial heart and named by Solucient as one of America’s top 15 teaching hospitals, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is a 600-bed academic medical center and the principal hospital of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, NJ.

Robert Wood Johnson is an innovative leader in advancing state-of-the-art care in medicine. Its Centers of Excellence include cardiovascular care from minimally invasive heart surgery to transplantation, cancer care and women's and children's care including The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. The hospital is also a Level 1 Trauma Center and serves as a national resource in its ground-breaking approaches to emergency preparedness.

The hospital has earned significant national recognition for clinical quality and patient safety. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital was ranked number 26 in the nation for heart care according to U.S.News & World Report’s 2007 ranking of “America’s Best Hospitals,” as well as best in the state for Respiratory Disorders (#26) and Urology (#50), and among the nation’s best for Geriatrics (#40). The American College of Surgeons' Commission on Cancer has rated Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital among the nation's best comprehensive cancer centers. The Leapfrog Group rated Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital as one of the 50 exceptional U.S. hospitals, as published in Consumers Digest magazine. Harvard University researchers, in a study commissioned by The Commonwealth Fund, identified Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital as one of the top 10 hospitals in the nation for clinical quality. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is also a recipient of the prestigious Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence for 10 consecutive years.

Attention members of the media: For more information on this release, please contact the Department of Public Relations (732) 937-8521.


Top of Page return to top of page