Minimally invasive treatment of vascular diseases

  The story of the diagnosis and treatment of dilated disease of the aorta is indeed a sensational and exciting one, which is in part closely related to the status of the aorta. The anatomical importance of the aorta, the high lethality of the associated disease, and the rapidity of the change in course of the disease all point to this. A ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm and aortic coarctation aneurysm, like those mentioned earlier, have a mortality rate as high as 90% and can almost be said to be either life or death without even a chance of disability! In contrast, some small and medium-sized arteries in the peripheral system are not as thick and the blood flow is not as rapid, so the probability of causing sudden changes in the condition and sudden death is relatively smaller. However, arterial occlusive diseases such as carotid stenosis, superior mesenteric artery stenosis, and lower extremity atherosclerotic occlusive disease can still cause endless suffering to patients. “It is not easy to say that it is not easy to cure it, this hatred lasts forever”!  Carotid artery stenosis, or to be precise, atherosclerotic plaque formation at the bifurcation of the carotid artery, at the beginning of the internal carotid artery, is now considered to be one of the important causes of ischemic stroke attacks (strokes). Stroke is no stranger to the word paralysis (hemiplegia), aphasia, and blindness. In fact, the cause of most strokes is not brain lesions but carotid artery stenosis. They are the real culprits of strokes, as the atherosclerotic plaques in the stenosis produce emboli that enter the brain with the blood flow and “cause” strokes.  In 1856, Savory first reported that carotid artery stenosis could be associated with severe ischemic stroke; in 1914, Hunt suggested that “detailed carotid vascular examination” was necessary for patients with intermittent central neurological symptoms; in 1937, Moniz first obtained images of stenotic internal carotid arteries by arteriography in stroke patients; and in 1937, Moniz first obtained images of stenotic internal carotid arteries by arteriography. In 1954, Eastcott performed the first successful elective carotid artery surgery in a patient with frequent TIA (transient ischemic attack). Currently, the standard open procedure for stroke prevention is carotid endarterectomy (also known as CEA), and with the development of endoluminal vascular techniques, endoluminal vascular treatment of the carotid artery, carotid stenting (also known as CAS), offers another minimally invasive option for patients (Figure 2221). Although it is difficult to say which of the two approaches is better or worse, it is certainly a blessing for medicine and for patients that the two “Cs” are “competing”.  The superior mesenteric artery is also a visceral artery. As mentioned earlier, it is responsible for the blood supply to most of the intestinal tubes and therefore has an important role in digestive function. Stenosis of the superior mesenteric artery due to various causes (e.g., entrapment, atherosclerosis, etc.) may cause abnormal changes in digestive function to varying degrees (i.e., what is known professionally as “intestinal ischemia”), such as abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and even weight loss. A special feature of this kind of abdominal pain is that it often appears after eating, so it is also called “post-feeding pain”. In severe cases, there is even a fear of eating, so it is accompanied by weight loss and weight loss. Traditionally, the treatment is open surgery with superior aortic mesenteric artery bypass, which has many risks such as trauma, poor patency rate and infection. Now, relying on the advantages of endoluminal vascular technology, minimally invasive endoluminal stenting of the superior mesenteric artery has been carried out, and many such patients have been successfully treated. Often, on the second day after the surgery and stent placement, the patient’s abdominal pain is significantly relieved and his appetite improves. As the saying goes, if you have good teeth, you have good appetite! In our opinion, it is a good appetite when the superior mesenteric artery is good!  When it comes to pain, lower extremity atherosclerosis affects patients in more ways than one. The disease was recorded more than 2,000 years ago in the “Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine”: “hair in the toe name gangrene, the shape of red and black, death does not cure; not red and black does not die, does not decline in the emergency chop, not is dead. To the Qing Dynasty, the “New Edition of the Experimental Formula” in the “debridement gangrene …… bone package does not recede, long is ulcerated, section off, extending to the back of the foot leg knee, rotting black trap, unbearable pain. The description of the image is precise, into the wood three. Patients are often afflicted with “rest pain”. What is “resting pain”? It is pain in the affected toe without doing anything! Not just any pain! It is a severe pain! The darker the night, the more painful it is! Since this is the case, the patient cannot do anything. The ability to live is significantly diminished! The quality of life is also significantly reduced! The important thing is that the pain lasts sometimes for several years. If they do not receive treatment, most patients do not escape the fate of amputation. Nowadays, endoluminal vascular therapy with balloon dilation and stenting has replaced about 95% of the traditional revascularization procedures (open surgery) for lower extremity arterial occlusions, and the advantages of endoluminal therapy are self-evident.  ”Minimally invasive” is not a complete rejection of traditional treatment methods, but rather an inheritance and sublimation of traditional surgery. This is especially true for endoluminal vascular surgery, which does not reject or abandon the traditional classical surgery, but inherits, improves, cooperates and sublimates it. From the diagnosis and treatment of large artery dilatation diseases to the treatment of artery occlusion diseases, it marks the new stage of minimally invasive endoluminal vascular treatment from local to systemic, from large vessels to small and medium vessels, and its application is becoming more and more extensive and mature. Diversification of treatment means and comprehensive coverage of diseases. One flower blooming alone is not a show, but a hundred flowers blooming together is spring!