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

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) 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. RWJUH is the first hospital in the nation to implant the AbioCor self-contained artificial heart since the device received FDA approval in 2006. RWJUH is one of only three sites in the nation approved to offer this groundbreaking technology. 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 (www.bmsch.org). 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 is ranked among the top 50 hospitals in the nation for heart and heart surgery (No. 36), cancer (No. 40) respiratory disorders (No. 50), according to U.S.News & World Report’s 2009 ranking of “America’s Best Hospitals.” The American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer has rated RWJUH among the nation's best comprehensive cancer centers. The Leapfrog Group rated RWJUH 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 RWJUH as one of the top 10 hospitals in the nation for clinical quality. RWJUH is also a recipient of the prestigious Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence for more than 10 consecutive years. Visit us online at www.rwjuh.edu.

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

return to top of page