A community hospital succeeds in a complex, university-hospital-level EVAR procedure
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Gangnam St. Peter's Hospital 26-03-24 10:42Main content
[Korean Medical News·Ilgan Bosa = Reporter Jung Kwang-sung] The Hepatobiliary-Pancreatic & Vascular Center at St. Peter's Hospital has demonstrated university-hospital-level vascular treatment capability through a technically demanding operation.
St. Peter's Hospital (President Yoon, Kangjun) announced on the 24th that Park Kwan-tae, Director of General Surgery at its Hepatobiliary-Pancreatic & Vascular Center <photo>, recently succeeded in treating a high-risk patient with a suspected infectious ‘saccular’ abdominal aortic aneurysm using ‘abdominal aortic aneurysm stent insertion (EVAR)’.
‘Abdominal aortic aneurysm’ is a vascular disease caused mainly by degenerative change; it can be life-threatening if it ruptures and is difficult to treat. Saccular abdominal aortic aneurysms in particular can grow larger over time with an increasing risk of rupture, so they demand even more precise treatment.
This patient's case was high-risk: unlike a typical abdominal aortic aneurysm, an infectious aneurysm caused by bacteria was suspected, so the treatment strategy had to account for both the risk of rupture and the possibility of reinfection after treatment.
Director Park therefore analyzed the patient's overall condition and comorbidities from multiple angles and decided to perform EVAR, in which a ‘stent-graft’, a type of artificial vessel, is inserted into the blood vessel to block blood flow into the aneurysm.
Because EVAR places the stent through a catheter after a small local skin incision rather than open surgery, it can often be applied even to elderly patients or those with comorbidities; but as it demands highly advanced, precise technique and expertise, it is regarded as one of the complex vascular treatments performed mainly at university hospitals and tertiary general hospitals.
The medical team led by Director Park Kwan-tae completed the operation successfully in about an hour. The patient remained stable after the stent insertion and, following a smooth recovery, was discharged after a two-day stay.
The hospital added that outpatient follow-up has shown no notable abnormalities and a clear recovery.
On the strength of this achievement, the hospital plans to further strengthen its specialized care system for a wide range of vascular disease as a one-stop vascular center covering vascular conditions as a whole, including complex aortic aneurysm repair, peripheral arterial disease surgery, stent insertion and balloon angioplasty, varicose vein surgery, and the creation and revision of arteriovenous fistulas and grafts (AVF/AVG) required for blood dialysis.
Director Park Kwan-tae said, “In high-risk vascular treatment, what matters most is to draw on specialized expertise, monitor the patient’s condition closely to the end, and establish a safe treatment plan.” He added, “We will continue to strengthen our integrated treatment capabilities across the full range of vascular disease — from diagnosis to tailored treatment and follow-up care — and provide high-quality medical services that patients in the region can turn to with confidence.”
St. Peter's Hospital (President Yoon, Kangjun) announced on the 24th that Park Kwan-tae, Director of General Surgery at its Hepatobiliary-Pancreatic & Vascular Center <photo>, recently succeeded in treating a high-risk patient with a suspected infectious ‘saccular’ abdominal aortic aneurysm using ‘abdominal aortic aneurysm stent insertion (EVAR)’.
‘Abdominal aortic aneurysm’ is a vascular disease caused mainly by degenerative change; it can be life-threatening if it ruptures and is difficult to treat. Saccular abdominal aortic aneurysms in particular can grow larger over time with an increasing risk of rupture, so they demand even more precise treatment.
This patient's case was high-risk: unlike a typical abdominal aortic aneurysm, an infectious aneurysm caused by bacteria was suspected, so the treatment strategy had to account for both the risk of rupture and the possibility of reinfection after treatment.
Director Park therefore analyzed the patient's overall condition and comorbidities from multiple angles and decided to perform EVAR, in which a ‘stent-graft’, a type of artificial vessel, is inserted into the blood vessel to block blood flow into the aneurysm.
Because EVAR places the stent through a catheter after a small local skin incision rather than open surgery, it can often be applied even to elderly patients or those with comorbidities; but as it demands highly advanced, precise technique and expertise, it is regarded as one of the complex vascular treatments performed mainly at university hospitals and tertiary general hospitals.
The medical team led by Director Park Kwan-tae completed the operation successfully in about an hour. The patient remained stable after the stent insertion and, following a smooth recovery, was discharged after a two-day stay.
The hospital added that outpatient follow-up has shown no notable abnormalities and a clear recovery.
On the strength of this achievement, the hospital plans to further strengthen its specialized care system for a wide range of vascular disease as a one-stop vascular center covering vascular conditions as a whole, including complex aortic aneurysm repair, peripheral arterial disease surgery, stent insertion and balloon angioplasty, varicose vein surgery, and the creation and revision of arteriovenous fistulas and grafts (AVF/AVG) required for blood dialysis.
Director Park Kwan-tae said, “In high-risk vascular treatment, what matters most is to draw on specialized expertise, monitor the patient’s condition closely to the end, and establish a safe treatment plan.” He added, “We will continue to strengthen our integrated treatment capabilities across the full range of vascular disease — from diagnosis to tailored treatment and follow-up care — and provide high-quality medical services that patients in the region can turn to with confidence.”