Traumatic injury to the aorta, the body's main artery, is nearly always fatal.  Vehicle crashes, falls, and crush injuries are a leading cause of blunt force trauma to the aorta.  Following trauma to the aorta, immediate surgical correction is needed to save the person’s life.  Traditional surgeries opened the chest to access the heart.  For people compromised by other injuries, open-heart surgery is risky and associated with complications.  Minimally invasive heart repair surgery is an exciting new life-saving surgical option.

 

The new minimally invasive surgery uses a graft (endograft) that is delivered through the blood vessels. A catheter is inserted near the groin and carefully guided to the heart by X-ray images.  At the site of the aortic injury, the graft is released and expands like a patch.  Minimally invasive aortic artery repair is associated with fewer complications, less bleeding, shorter operating time, and a faster recovery.  It appears that minimally invasive life-saving heart surgery is the new line of defense for saving the lives of people with traumatic aortic injuries.