As the second in Poland, MUB surgeons implanted a new generation stent graft Castor in a 63-year-old patient. The man was hospitalized due to post-COVID-19 complications. In November last year, he fell seriously ill with COVID-19 infection (he was treated for two weeks at the Covid Clinic at Żurawia Street). Then he spent the next months in hospitals in Białystok due to complications. He suffered from circulatory failure, renal failure, and he also survived clinical death after cardiac arrest.
- During the next hospitalization at the University Clinical Hospital, the man felt severe pain in the chest. When he had a computed tomography examination, it turned out that the aorta was dissected at the level of the subclavian artery - reports dr hab. Jerzy Głowiński, head of the Department of Vascular Surgery and Transplantation. - His life was in danger, a stroke and death could have occurred at any moment. The problem is that this patient did not qualify for traditional surgery, because he would simply not survive it.
Classic surgery involves a large incision on the neck and reaching the aortic arch. The subclavian artery is then anastomosed with the carotid artery, and a stent graft is inserted at the site of the dissection.
The stent graft was inserted percutaneously - after local anesthesia, surgeons inserted it through a small incision in the vessels on the thigh and arm. So far, only one operation using this type of stent has been performed in Poland and one in Europe.
The operation was performed on July 27 this year. The patient is fine. Follow-up examinations showed that the dissection had healed correctly and that the prosthesis was in optimal position.
- Now I feel much better - said the patient during the conference. - And finally I'm home. Because for the last six months, maybe only two weeks, I was at home. I was not afraid of the operation because there was no other option. I knew it was the only salvation for me.
