(PHILADELPHIA) Tears in the aorta which affect thousands of
people each year coast to coast, may soon be treated with a much
less invasive technique that could dramatically improve
patients’ chances of survival. A national study being directed
by a vascular surgeon at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is
exploring a new minimally invasive method that could spare
patients the trauma and risk of open chest surgery. Joseph V.
Lombardi, M.D., Director of the Jefferson Aortic Center
(www.jeffersonhosptal.org/aortic) is the National Principal
Investigator (PI) in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration--
approved clinical study assessing the safety and effectiveness
of an endovascular stent-graft to treat aortic dissection, a
condition that led to the sudden death of actor John Ritter.
“This pathology specific endovascular device has the potential
to eliminate the need for highly invasive, open chest surgery to
repair one of the most deadly aortic diseases in the U.S.,” said
Dr. Lombardi, assistant professor of Sur