First South Carolina patient treated with recently FDA approved dissection endovascular system

The Medical University of South Carolina treated the first patient in the state with the Cook Medical’s Zenith Dissection Endovascular System – an innovative new device recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The system provides surgeons with a less invasive alternative to open surgery for repair of Type B dissections of the descending thoracic aorta, which includes the thoracic and abdominal sections.

Dissections can be categorized as complicated or uncomplicated.  Complicated dissections include those with rupture or impending rupture, severe aortic valve insufficiency and limb or visceral malperfusion, where there is a loss of blood supply to a vital organ caused by branch arterial obstruction secondary to the dissection.   

Traditionally, thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) has been the treatment of choice for most complicated Type B aortic dissections, but it has limitations when treating patients with visceral malperfusion. The Zenith Dissection Endovascular System is an improved treatment option and marks the beginning of a new treatment protocol for these patients.

MUSC vascular surgeon Mathew Wooster, M.D., treated the first patient in South Carolina using the Zenith Dissection Endovascular System, the first operation of its kind in the state.  His MUSC surgical colleague, Elizabeth Genovese, M.D., assisted in the leading-edge procedure.    

According to Wooster, the early aortic remodeling seen after treatment with this dissection stent was unprecedented.

“For patients with acute aortic dissection with complications, any other treatment modality would have minimal chance of improving spinal cord perfusion simultaneously with increasing flow to the lower extremities,” said Wooster.

Additional benefits to using the Zenith Dissection Endovascular System include the relative technical ease of deployment, off the shelf availability for acute emergent/urgent repairs and minimal contraindications.