Sisters First to Implant Locally Designed Device

May 2, 2008

On May 3, 2008, Drs. Paul and Joseph Anain, both Vascular surgeons with Sisters Hospital and the Catholic Health System, were the first surgeons in Western New York to implant the “Talent System” in a patient suffering from an abdominal aortic aneurysm. The talent graft system was just recently approved by the FDA to be surgically implanted in patients in the United States but had been the most frequently used endograft in the world for the past several years. The “Talent Device” was developed by local Vascular Surgeon Dr. Syde Taheri in Buffalo.

Each year, approximately 15,000 people die from abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), making it the 16th leading cause of death in the United States. AAA affects 2.7 million people in the US with approximately 50 percent of those cases go undiagnosed. An aneurysm is a diseased, weakened and bulging section of an artery wall. The Talent System Graft is made of a fabric tube supported by a metal framework. The device is implanted in the patient through a delivery catheter. The endovascular graft is then released in the aorta where it self-expands to the diameter of the aorta to exclude the aneurysm and reline the artery wall. This endovascular graft goes from the aorta to the arteries that supply blood to one leg. Another delivery catheter containing an endovascular graft is inserted through a small skin incision on the other side of the groin. This endovascular graft connects the first endovascular graft with the arteries that go to the other leg. The Talent Abdominal Stent Graft System is used instead of more invasive open surgery in patients who have an abdominal aortic aneurysm and benefits patients with an abdominal aortic aneurysm by preventing further growth and rupture of the aneurysm.