PEOPLE from West Devon who suffer from enlarged abdominal blood vessels have reason to thank a small 'milestone' at an Exeter hospital. Last week the Royal Devon and Exeter admitted its 50th patient for the non-invasive, life-saving procedure known as endovascular aneurysm repair, or EVAR. EVAR, which was first carried out at the RD and E in July 2003, is a surgical procedure for use on patients whose main abdominal blood vessel is enlarged. Left untreated this condition is commonly fatal. The RD and E is one of only three centres offering this treatment in the South West. Professor Tony Watkinson, consultant interventional radiologist at the RD&E and president of the British Society of Interventional Radiology, said: 'Normally this blood vessel is around two centimetres in diameter but swollen blood vessels – or 'aneurysms' – become three or more times this size. EVAR is a procedure whereby a metal supported "cage" is inserted through two small holes in the groin to re-line the enlarged blood vessel. 'There are some fantastic benefits of using EVAR rather than open surgery. Patients have a much shorter stay in hospital than they would have with open surgery - four to five days as opposed to ten to 14 days). 'Patients do not typically have to go to intensive care following the procedure, they will not have a large abdominal scar and they enjoy a much faster return to normal life after leaving hospital. EVAR is an example of minimally-invasive surgery at the cutting edge of medical technology.' There is almost a 100 per cent technical success rate with EVAR, with two per cent mortality at 30 days (compared with six per cent for open surgery.
