Torrance, Calif. (August 5, 2002) Rodney White, MD, Chief of Vascular Surgery and Associate Chair, Department of Surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Principal Investigator at the Research & Education Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (REI) is shedding new light on endovascular treatment of thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAAs). A life threatening condition caused by a weakening of the vascular wall of the aorta in the chest, TAAs can lead to either sudden death or death in a matter of hours if the aorta ruptures.

In an REI clinical study, Dr. White and a team of cardiovascular surgeons, radiologists and scientists have successfully treated approximately 60 patients over the last three years with thoracic aortic aneurysms, aortic dissections and other cause of acute rupture. REI and the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center hold the distinction of being the only study site in the Los Angeles area to conduct this FDA-approved Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) research. Results on the first 25 patients in this study were published in the Journal of Vascular Surgery, May 2001. Dr. White and his team are a part of a nationwide referral network that has also implanted endovascular prostheses into approximately 600 patients diagnosed with abdominal aortic aneurysms, the 13th leading cause of death in the United States.

Dr. White, a graduate of the State University of New York Upstate Medical Center, believes that this research holds much promise.

"With the development of endovascular prostheses to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms in the mid 1990's, a concomitant effort to adapt this technology to the treatment of thoracic aneurysms has demonstrated promising preliminary results with a decrease in both major morbidity and mortality being noted in many patients," he says.

The new technology also makes repair of thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections available to patients who are not considered to be reasonable candidates for co
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Contact: Barbara T. Kerr
bkerr@rei.edu
310-222-2820
Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed)
5-Aug-2002

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