Memorial Neuroscience Institute First in South Florida to Use Latest Aneurysm Treatment Technology

Next Generation Device Prevents Ruptures, Bleeding

As a veterinarian in Cuba, Xiomara Delgado was used to providing clinical expertise to patients and families. Now retired and living in Miami, the 77-year-old doctor was recently on the other side of a diagnosis, and it wasn’t a good one.

Delgado periodically suffered from very painful headaches that were severe enough to require a visit to Memorial. A brain scan revealed several aneurysms, any one of which would leave her a less than 50% chance of survival if it burst. In that situation, even if the elderly woman managed to survive the bleeding in her brain, she’d still likely be left with permanent damage, according to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation.

Delgado was immediately referred to Brijesh P. Mehta, MD, medical director of Neurointerventional Surgery and the Comprehensive Stroke Program at Memorial Neuroscience Institute. Mehta is one of approximately 20 physicians in the U.S. trained to use Medtronic’s Pipeline Vantage device for treatment of brain aneurysms. As a result, Memorial was the only healthcare system in South Florida selected to use the company’s next generation technology, which is approved by the FDA but has had a limited release while additional data on its effectiveness is compiled.

“It’s much safer for the patient if we don’t attempt to go inside the aneurysm,” said Dr. Mehta. “Pipeline Vantage is a stent-like device which is deployed inside the vessel, across the opening of the aneurysm to seal it off and thereby preventing it from bursting. This is a quick, durable, and relatively novel solution for a condition that can often be fatal.”

The image-guided procedure is performed through a very small access, no larger than the tip of a pencil, from a blood vessel in the arm or leg. This is another area of major innovation for neurointerventional treatments.

“We’ve traditionally gotten access to the brain through the leg, but in the last couple of years we’ve done a majority of our treatments through the wrist. This approach leads to a much faster recovery, with patients regaining mobility sooner and not having to lay flat for an extended period of time,” said Mehta.

Fortunately, Delgado was in the right place at the right time, with Dr. Mehta successfully treating her four brain aneurysms with the Pipeline Vantage device. He has now performed the neurointerventional procedure with this cutting-edge technology more than a dozen times since its roll out earlier this year, without any complications and patients heading home the next day.

Degado reports she is recovering nicely and back to being the lifelong learner she had been prior to being diagnosed with brain aneurysms. It’s a welcome outcome for a situation that if not for the intervention could have ended much differently.