There are many different types of vascular disease, which are medical conditions affecting the body’s intricate network of blood vessels. Traditionally, when surgery was required to treat a vascular disease, an open procedure was used, accessing the body through sometimes large incisions.
Today, many types of vascular surgery can be performed using minimally invasive techniques. Vascular specialists at Northeast Georgia Physicians Group (NGPG) Vascular Center offer our patients access to these innovative procedures—known as endovascular surgery—whenever possible.
What is endovascular surgery?
Endovascular surgery is minimally invasive vascular surgery. These procedures are catheter-based, meaning they’re performed using a thin tube called a catheter.
The catheter is inserted into the body through tiny incisions, then woven to the area of the body affected by vascular disease. These small incisions, sometimes called punctures, let vascular specialists access a blood vessel more easily, with less impact on the body.
What conditions can endovascular surgery treat?
Innovations in technique and technology are making minimally invasive surgery an option to treat many medical conditions. That’s definitely true when it comes to vascular disease.
Endovascular surgery may be used to treat:
- Aortic aneurysms—a bulging in the wall of the aorta, the body’s largest artery
- Atherosclerosis—a buildup of plaque on artery walls
- Blood clots
- Carotid artery disease—when plaque builds up in an artery moving blood to the brain, head and face
- Deep vein thrombosis—a blood clot in a deep vein
- Mesenteric artery disease—when plaque builds up in an artery moving blood to the intestines, liver, spleen and pancreas
- Peripheral artery disease—when plaque builds up in an artery moving blood to the legs and arms
- Renal artery disease—when plaque builds up in an artery moving blood to the kidneys
- Spider veins
- Varicose veins
Endovascular surgery can also be used to treat end-stage kidney disease through the placement and management of dialysis access.
What are some endovascular surgical procedures?
Vascular specialists at NGPG Vascular Center offer many types of endovascular surgery, including:
- Angioplasty and stenting to treat arterial disease caused by plaque buildup
- Aortic aneurysm repair to repair abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms
- Atherectomy to treat arterial disease by removing plaque buildup
- Inferior vena cava filter placement to keep blood clots from moving to the lungs
- Radiofrequency ablation to treat varicose veins
- Sclerotherapy to treat varicose and spider veins
- Thrombolysis to break up blood clots
- Transcarotid artery revascularization to remove plaque buildup in the carotid arteries
In addition to these treatment options, endovascular surgery can also be used for some diagnostic tests, including angiograms and intravascular ultrasound.
What are the benefits of endovascular surgery?
Minimally invasive surgical procedures, including endovascular surgery, benefit patients in many ways. During endovascular surgery, vascular specialists access the body through tiny incisions, then use a catheter to access the affected blood vessel.
These incisions may more aptly be called punctures, making a very limited impact on the body. Because of that, endovascular surgery typically results in less blood loss, a lower risk of complications and a quicker recovery.
In many cases, patients who undergo endovascular surgery can leave the hospital after only an overnight stay, though a longer stay is required in some cases.
Choose NGPG for endovascular surgery
When surgery is recommended to treat a medical condition, you logically want the procedure that’s going to have the smallest impact on your body. At NGPG Vascular Center, our team of vascular specialists offers endovascular surgery to our patients whenever possible.
These minimally invasive procedures serve the same purpose as their vascular surgery counterparts—correcting a problem with the vascular system—but are less invasive, meaning patients often return to their normal lives faster.
We perform endovascular surgery in the endovascular suites at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, which are specially equipped with innovative technologies and imaging tools. Access to these suites provides our vascular surgeons with the latest advancements—and we use those services to benefit our patients.