Imaging Centers

Interventional Radiologist Paul Blom, M.D. first in the area to treat brain aneurysms with minimally invasive procedure

Recently at St. Mary's Medical Center, interventional Radiologist Paul Blom, M.D., was the first in the Tri-State to perform a minimally invasive procedure to treat brain aneurysms. The procedure, called endovascular coiling, uses platinum coils and enables a physician to access the treatment area from within the blood vessel. Endovascular coil treatment involves insertion of a catheter into the femoral artery in the patient's leg and navigating it through the vascular system under X-ray guidance into the head and into the aneurysm. Tiny platinum coils are then threaded through the catheter and deployed into the aneurysm, obstructing blood flow into the aneurysm and preventing further damage.

Historically, most brain aneurysm patients in the United States have been treated by neurosurgical clipping, which involves performing a craniotomy (temporarily removing a section of the skull during surgery) and placing a surgical clip at the neck of the aneurysm. However, an increasing number of patients are receiving less-invasive endovascular coil treatment. It is estimated that as many as 50 percent of patients treated for brain aneurysms this year will receive endovascular treatment.

Results from the International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial (ISAT) published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet demonstrated that in ruptured brain aneurysm patients equally suited for both surgical and less-invasive treatment options, endovascular coil treatment is significantly more likely to leave patients alive and free of disability at one-year follow-up than is surgical clipping.

The majority of neurosurgical procedures in the Tri-State are performed at St. Mary's Regional Neuroscience Center. A specialized neuroscience unit has been designated for adult neurology and neurosurgery patients, including stroke patients, and St. Mary's recently received accreditation for its primary stroke center program. The center's board certified neurologists, neurosurgeons and interventional radiologists offer advanced treatment for various neurological disorders and injuries, including aneurysms, diseases of the central nervous system, injuries of the head, neck and spine and tumors of the brain and spine.

. .