Pipeline embolization procedure shown via Twitter
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Aug. 1, 2013) – At one time, former nurse Kimberly Underhill was the one holding patients hands and helping deliver lifesaving care. Today she is the patient. Her physician, Shervin R. Dashti, M.D., Ph.D., is performing a lifesaving surgery to cure a large aneurysm in her brain that just a few years ago was untreatable and he will be tweeting about it.
Dr. Dashti has been performing this type of surgery using the Pipeline Embolization Device for over two years with patients whose aneurysms are too large to treat with other endovascular or conventional surgical techniques. The Pipeline embolization procedure is a technique used to treat large or giant wide-necked brain aneurysms in which the device is placed in the parent blood vessel rather than in the aneurysm sac.
The Pipeline device is the first and only flow diversion device approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The device diverts blood flow away from the aneurysm by creating a link from one end of the normal blood vessel to the other, restoring original, natural blood circulation.
Over time the aneurysm will clot off and dissolve completely for a permanent long-term cure. During the procedure, the Pipeline device (a braided cylindrical mesh) is implanted across the aneurysm neck. This slows the flow of blood into the aneurysm, which allows for the diseased vessel to heal. Norton Healthcare has done more of these procedures than any other facility in the state.
The surgery begins at 11:30 a.m. at Norton Brownsboro Hospital in Louisville. Follow the tweets at @Norton_Health or #NortonORLive.
More information is available at NortonNeuroscienceInstitute.com.
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