Thirty years ago, physicians could only imagine that technology would someday allow them to see inside the human body – and treat it – all without opening it up and creating large incisions. But today, many patients at Adventist Midwest Health hospitals have exactly that as a treatment option. For many conditions and injuries, gone are the days of large incisions, lengthy hospital stays and even longer recovery times.

When it comes to minimally invasive procedures, Adventist Midwest Health is on the forefront. “In health care, there has been a shift to make procedures less invasive,” says Luke Sewall, MD, an interventional radiologist with Adventist Midwest Health.

During a minimally invasive procedure, physicians create tiny nicks in the skin and by using catheters and tubes, maneuver miniature cameras to project images from inside the body onto monitors. From there, they use image guidance to perform procedures that would have normally required major operations.

Some of the many benefits of minimally invasive procedures include:

• Shorter hospital stays
• Shorter recovery times
• Less post-procedure pain
• Decreased blood loss
• Less scarring

“Because of imaging and technology advancements, we can treat cancer, heart and vascular disease, women’s health issues, like uterine fibroids, and more – all without surgery,” Dr. Sewall says.

These leading-edge procedures provide university-level care in your own backyard. Suburban patients who used to commute to research hospitals in Chicago for the most advanced minimally invasive options now have local resources. With four different Adventist Midwest Health hospitals in Chicago’s Western suburbs, these treatment options are more convenient than ever.

Treating abdominal aortic aneurysms
Adventist Midwest Health is home to one of the largest private practice groups of board-certified vascular and interventional radiologists, VIR Chicago. “Our team is unique because all of our physicians practice only interventional radiology, whereas most hospitals have radiologists that spread their time between reading X-rays and providing treatment interventions,” Dr. Sewall says. “This allows us to focus all our attention on minimally invasive procedures.” And although they perform a range of procedures, Dr. Sewall’s special focus is on vascular disease and aneurysms.

The abdominal aorta is the largest artery in the body. An abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) can occur when this blood vessel wall weakens and “balloons.” The rupture of this artery accounts for over 15,000 deaths per year.

The traditional treatment is a major abdominal surgery in which the bad segment of vessel is “tied off,” followed by a bypass operation. Not only is this a painful operation, but recovery takes six to eight weeks.

“Now we use image guidance to maneuver a small tube to seal the aneurysm from the inside out, which is called stent-grafting,” says Dr. Sewall. The patient leaves the hospital the next day and is back to full activity in a few days.

“This is only one example of how minimally invasive procedures are changing the way we think about treating the body,” Dr. Sewall says. “Not only are we making the procedures as easy as possible on patients, but at the same time giving them more options than ever before.”

To register for an AAA or vascular screening, or for more information, call 866-533-7968. Times and locations vary.