Porter recently reached another milestone in its healthcare history when Interventional Radiologist Amjad Alkadri, MD, performed a technically demanding translumbar type II endoleak repair. Dr. Alkadri performed the procedure on a patient who had previously undergone an endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). 
“Endoleak is the most commonly identified complication that occurs in patients who undergo endovascular grafting,” said Dr. Alkadri. “What endoleak means is that blood flow occurs within the aneurysm sac.” Dr. Alkadri went on to explain that the endoleak was identified when the patient came in for a regular follow-up CT scan. “The problem was,” he commented, “this was causing pressure within the sac, which could have caused it to rupture.”
In the past, most endoleaks were treated by feeding a catheter through the groin, locating the artery feeding the endoleak and then emobolizing the offending vessel or vessels. However, instead of treating the vessels that were feeding the sac, Dr. Alkadri used a technique that embolized the endoleak itself.
Dr. Alkadri’s approach required a translumbar needle stick to access the aneurysm sac directly. “Using CT to guide me to the source of the flow and angiography to confirm it, I was able to inject the embolic agent into the sac, thereby completely obstructing the cavity itself,” Dr. Alkadri said.