New aneurysm procedure drastically cuts recovery time at Victoria Hospital

A new procedure at London, Ont.’s Victoria Hospital is cutting recovery times drastically, from several months to just a matter of weeks.

An aneurysm is a bulge that can occur in any blood vessel, and if it bursts, can prove fatal.

Thomas Barker, a Windsor, Ont. resident, had one discovered in his abdomen back in 2018 during a checkup for an unrelated — but just as serious — health scare.

“I had just come off major heart surgery the year before, and now this was added to it,” he says. 

Barker’s doctors monitored him and his aneurysm for three years, during which time it grew. In 2021, he was referred to doctors in London.

He was deemed a suitable patient for something never done before at Victoria Hospital: a surgically implanted stent that did not require any incision.

“It’s almost hard to tell you’ve had an operation at all,” says vascular surgeon Dr. John Landau, who performed Barker’s procedure. “We can really treat an aneurysm almost all the way up to the heart, and all the way down to the very bottom of the aorta.”

Previously, Landau says repairing an aneurysm like Barker’s would have required opening up the abdomen and chest, which is a very invasive process requiring a lengthy hospital stay.

“It can take sometimes up to two to four weeks to recover from, and often the full recovery process can take up to a year before feeling back to normal,” Landau says.

Barker was sent home after spending three nights in hospital.

The procedure’s success is promising for future patients, according to Landau. Right now Victoria Hospital completes one or two of these procedures a month, but with shorter recovery times, that number could increase.

Nearly three months later, Barker says he recently got an “everything’s fine” signal from a recent checkup. He says he’s back doing what he loves, like yard work and golfing.

“If it hadn’t been for Dr. Landau and the staff here, yours truly would not be here,” he says.