MONTREAL – A doctor at the Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur-de-Montreal last Friday became the first in Canada to use a tool that would reduce the risk of complications and maximize the chances of an optimal outcome for patients who need treatment. ” surgery for a blocked blood vessel.
During such a procedure, a hemodynamicist normally inserts a first guide (a very thin wire) into the artery in order to measure the pressure that exists on the other side of the obstruction. He must then remove this wire and insert another one to go and fix the problem, then start the scenario again until he is satisfied with the result.
The tool that was used in great Canadian premiere on Friday, the OmniWire guide from the Dutch giant Philips, allows you to do everything with a single guide that remains in place for the duration of the intervention.
“It’s revolutionary technology,” said Dr. Erick Schampaert, to whom The Canadian Press spoke just minutes after the procedure. There are fewer manipulations, so theoretically because we use the same guide, there is less risk of complications to go up and down and up and down several different guides. The procedure is faster. ”
Not only does the new guide accurately measure the pressure in the artery to take the full measure of the problem, but the doctor can then use it to deliver the balloons and stents they need to the site. obstruction.
In addition to reduced risk of complications, the duration of the procedure would be shortened by five or ten minutes for each vessel on which we must act.
Once the operation is finished, the guide allows you to take the pressure back inside the artery in order to check if everything is back to normal.
“The beauty of it all is that at the end of the procedure, this same guide (…) was able to confirm that the angioplasty result was optimal, that the circulation had returned to normal,” explained the doctor Schampaert. There was no concern that the patient had residual angina and that obviously minimizes the risk of complications in the future for this patient. ”
Previous studies have shown that angioplasty results in a less than optimal result in about 20% of patients, since a narrowing that is difficult to detect and requires new procedures would persist.
“We have to be humble and remember that when we do an angioplasty (…), we may not do an optimal job in all our patients, even if we think so, said Dr. Schampaert. Using the new guide makes it possible to check the result of the intervention in just a few seconds.
At least three Canadian groups, including one in Montreal, were interested in being the first to use this tool in Canada. The other two would have withdrawn in favor of Sacré-Cœur, whose expertise in coronary physiology is apparently well known.
“This is a great opportunity to make Quebeckers in general a little proud,” said Dr. Schampaert.
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