Archived Version Now Available

Fargo, N.D. – In a program first broadcast on Monday, April 7, MeritCare presented a live, surgical webcast of the minimally invasive endovascular repair of an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

The procedure was performed by Corey Teigen, M.D., interventional radiologist, and Stephen Stromstad, M.D., vascular surgeon. Dr. Teigen’s approach is unique for a variety of reasons: he’s able to draw from a high case volume of experience, affording patients the luxury of using local or epidural anesthesia; patients undergo only a small, main groin incision with a percutaneous approach from the side; and very precise guidance and placement of the endograft is done by utilizing a bi-plane interventional fluoroscopy suite. In addition, Dr. Teigen has been instrumental on a national level in the research and development of endografts used in the minimally invasive approach to the repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms. For almost three years, he has used this approach in over 200 procedures. Last year, with Dr. Teigen’s leadership, MeritCare implanted more of Guidant Corporation’s ANCURE® ENDOGRAFT® than any other site in the country.

Beverly A. Huss, Guidant Corporation’s president of Endovascular Solutions says, “As an early adopter of this technology, Dr. Teigen has led the way in proving the benefits of this therapy. As one of our most experienced users, he has shown incredible skill in the way that he does the procedure. I think that other implanters will want to view the webcast to learn more about Dr. Teigen’s approach.”

MeritCare is one of only a handful of healthcare institutions in the nation to broadcast live, surgical webcasts to public and professional audiences and is the first in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. (The first MeritCare webcast was in October 2002 and was the nation’s first live surgical webcast of a robotically assisted heart surgery.)