Endovascular surgery techniques
Balloon angioplasty and stenting. The narrowed vessel is expanded from the inside with a balloon catheter, after the expansion of the vessel, a stent is installed in it - a special design resembling externally a spring from a ballpoint pen, which prevents re-narrowing of the lumen and detachment of the inner lining of the vessel. This is the most widespread technique of endovascular surgery, it is used both for the treatment of lesions of the arteries of the heart and for the treatment of lesions of the peripheral arteries. Balloon catheters and stents come in a variety of diameters and lengths, and with different physical properties, depending on the parameters of the vessel for which they are intended. Stents are made of various materials - high-tech polymers and metal alloys; they can have a special drug coating that prevents reverse vasoconstriction (restenosis).
Embolization. Ball-shaped emboli or spirals closing the lumen of the vessel are inserted inside the vessel. The diameter of the introduced particles is fractions of a millimeter, and, as a rule, is measured in nanometers. Coils also come in different thicknesses and lengths, and have different coatings required to completely stop blood flow in a vessel. This technique is applicable in the treatment of tumors (including uterine fibroids), varicocele, internal bleeding. Also, the particles can be a carrier of a chemotherapy drug that is used in the treatment of malignant tumors.
Endoprosthetics. Installation of a stent-graft inside the affected vessel. A stent-graft is a stent covered with an artificial or natural (from an animal vessel) sheath. This method of treatment has shown high efficiency in the fight against vascular aneurysms - for example, an aneurysm of the abdominal aorta, or aneurysm of the splenic artery, and is also used in the provision of emergency care for ruptured arteries.
Mechanical catheter thrombectomy and thrombolysis – methods of physical removal of blood clots from the lumen of the vessel using special catheters or dissolving blood clots using enzymes (thrombolytics). In contrast to open vascular surgery, the methods are less invasive, have a much lower number of complications and are more effective, especially in complicated cases (for example, in thrombosis of grafts, when access to them is difficult due to cicatricial deformity).
Catheter atherectomy – method of removing atherosclerotic plaques from the arteries using special catheters. It is used for endovascular interventions on the arteries of the lower extremities, and in combination with other methods of restoring the vascular lumen, the most long-term result of the intervention.
Carboxyangiography – technology, which consists in introducing carbon dioxide into the vessel using special equipment instead of the usual iodine-containing contrast agent for diagnosis or surgery. It is used in patients with significant renal impairment or an allergic reaction to iodine-containing contrast agent.
Before endovascular interventions, the patient must undergo a preoperative examination.
Advantages of endovascular surgery at the K+31 clinic
- Expanded diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities - endovascular surgery techniques allow for interventions on vessels of very small diameter (2-3 mm), which are often inaccessible for open surgery, as well as restore the lumen of their own vessels.
- Low invasiveness of the operation - there is no need to make large incisions in the skin, there are no scars after the operation, the likelihood of infectious complications (wound suppuration) is minimal.
- Short postoperative period - discharge from the hospital is possible the next day after the operation.
- Specialists-experts - in the K+31 clinic, endovascular operations are carried out by specialists highly qualified in cardiovascular surgery, who are experts in each area of minimally invasive endovascular interventions.
- Professional European and American equipment of the latest generation.
