Kimberly was diagnosed at birth with pulmonary atrecsia (an enlarged heart and narrow arteries). After five surgeries and several catheterization procedures, doctors realized that not only were her arteries still narrow, but Kimberly had developed a life-threatening aneurysm. Attempts to fix this problem with traditional methods failed. Evan Zahn, M.D., interventional cardiologist and director of the MCH Cardiac Catheterization Lab, was granted special permission by Boston Scientific to use their Wallgraft™—a device still undergoing medical trials, designed for use on adult patients to repair malfunctioning blood vessels via catheter. During a five-hour procedure,
Dr. Zahn and his team inserted a piece of Wallgraft that was about half an inch wide and 1 1/2 inches long to repair the blood vessel and make the aneurysm eventually shrivel away to nothing. Kimberly was able to go home a few days later.
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Additional Cardiology & Cardiovascular Surgery Resources
Advanced Pediatric Cardiovascular TechniquesCardiac Intensive Care Unit Cardiac Prenatal Program Catheterization Lab CHI at Arnold Palmer Hospital Pediatric Electrophysiology Adult Congenital Heart Clinics Main Congenital Heart Institute page