Beloit Memorial Hospital Critical Care Nurse Denise James reviews discharge information with the first two patients who underwent a new cath lab procedure. The procedure repairs bulging blood vessels in the abdomen, called abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery. Beloit residents Richard McDaniel, center, and Willard Gaffney, right, were fortunate to be good candidates for this less-invasive and lower-risk surgery.

First AAA Patients Head Home After 24 Hours

"They handled it like they had done it 100 times before," comments Willard Gaffney, 83, who was one of the first patients at Beloit Memorial Hospital to undergo the new endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) procedure. Gaffney and Richard McDaniel, 66, were happy to be the first patients to have the ballooning blood vessels in their abdomens corrected. Both men had complete confidence in Dr. Leo Egbujiobi, Cardiologist, and Dr. Pierre Charles, Surgeon, who performed the procedures.

The AAA procedure offers many advantages over the traditional surgical repair of abdominal aneurysm, which requires about eight days of hospitalization and sometimes a five- to seven-week leave from work. Both of the AAA alternative procedures only took about two hours, and 24 hours later the two men were packed and ready to go home. There is an immediate improvement in the patient's health with this minimally invasive procedure.

"The new procedure involves two small incisions near the groin area where we insert a tube or catheter," explains Dr. Egbujiobi. "A stent graft is placed in the areas of the aneurysm to secure the blood vessel.

"Statistics show that 90% of aneurysms are fatal if they rupture," Egbujiobi continues. "This could happen at any time, so timely repair is essential." Even if it ruptures, the new AAA procedure can save a patient if the rupture can be closed off quickly to stop the internal bleeding.

Since 2000, Dr. Egbujiobi has trained extensively for the new procedure, and has performed many of them at Sinai Samaritan Medical Center and St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee. "This is leading-edge technology paired with the highest level of patient safety," explains Tim McKevett, Senior Vice President of Beloit Memorial Hospital. "Dr. Egbujiobi has taken the lead in providing the best in cardiology services for our Stateline residents. In 1997, we started with peripheral angioplasty procedures that opened up clogged arteries using stents in patients' legs or arms. We are now performing approximately 100 of these annually. The next step was angioplasties of heart arteries. Now we are doing abdomens. This fall, we will be placing stents inside carotid arteries."

The hospital also focuses on screenings to detect aneurysms at an earlier stage using ultrasounds or CT scans. For more information on aneurysms and surgical options, please contact your physician.