ACR Members Perform New Procedure
Two ACR members were part of a team of physicians at the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville who have successfully completed the first-ever implanting of a high-tech graft that was just recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. The graft allows doctors to treat potentially fatal aneurysms in the thoracic aorta without open surgery, according to a March 28 Newswise article.
The team was lead by ACR member Michael D. Dake, chair of the Department of Radiology, and ACR Fellow Alan H. Matsumoto. The procedure utilized a TAG Thoracic Endoprosthesis, which is comprised of "a tiny tubular graft made of a Teflon-like material enclosed in a special wire mesh 'corset.'"
"A large number of interested US physicians and patients have eagerly awaited the approval and release of the TAG device," Dake said in the article. "Today marks the beginning of a new era of less invasive repair of thoracic aortic aneurysms, which will provide a safe alternative to traditional surgery in some patients."
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