Columbus Dispatch: WEB Device Saving Lives
Earlier this year, vascular neurologists at OhioHealth were the first in the state to perform a newly FDA approved procedure. The benefit for the patient is simple, less-invasive and faster treatment inside of the operating room.
The Woven EndoBridge (WEB) Aneurysm Embolization System, approved for use only in January, causes the base of the aneurysm to start clotting from the inside, preventing more blood from entering which could lead to a potentially fatal rupture.
“It causes the base of the aneurysm to start clotting from the inside so the aneurysm seals off and blood cannot enter the aneurysm and cause it to rupture,” said Dr. Nirav Vora, a vascular neurologist and OhioHealth’s medical chief for cerebrovasular diseases told the Columbus Dispatch.
A brain aneurysm is a bulge or ballooning in a blood vessel. A ruptured aneurysm can cause severe bleeding in the brain and quickly become life-threatening. It is estimated that about a third of the people who have ruptured aneurysms don’t make it to the hospital in time, Vora told Dispatch reporter Megan Henry.
Unlike older methods, like coiling, the WEB system helps to clot aneurysms.
“For those who do make it to the hospital, the extent of hemorrhage and pressure released from the aneurysm rupture can cause severe disability,” Vora said to the Dispatch
National statistics estimate about six million people in the U.S. have unruptured brain aneurysms, and tens of thousands rupture.
“We don’t know why (aneurysms) form sometimes,” Dr. Peter J. Pema, co-director of neuro-interventional surgery at OhioHealth told Henry.
The WEB Aneurysm Embolization System is small but mighty. It is a sphere of woven wires that is inserted into an artery in the groin and threaded up to the aneurysm. Part of the WEB device is implanted in the aneurysm in the form of a self-expanding mesh bal
Most aneurysms are small, between one-eighth to nearly 1 inch, and hard to treat, according to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation. The new WEB device is well-suited for complex, small aneurysms, Pema said to The Dispatch.
“You go right into the aneurysm itself, fill it with this one single device that opens like a ball and you’re done, so it really expedited the care of the patient tremendously,” he said to the paper. “It’s safer because it’s less time in the aneurysm.”
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