Vascular Surgery

From aneurysms to vascular and artery diseases, to varicose veins and blood clots, vascular surgeons are here for you. “Anything that is outside of the heart and the brain is really what we do. All the vessels that exit the heart are subject to multiple stresses,” said Vascular and Endovascular surgeon Dr. Michal Nawalany. “We fix vessels that are blocked. We fix vessels that are degenerating and threatening to rupture. We help the blood flow return to the heart.”

In the past, many vascular procedures would be very involved. “Traditionally, this would involve a lot of open operations to either fix blocked vessels with bypasses or vessels that were degenerating like an aneurysm,” said Dr. Nawalany.

However, vascular surgery has greatly evolved over the last decade. “With multiple new contemporary treatments involving endovascular stents, endovascular procedures, to remove clots from the veins, or other blocked vessels,” said Dr. Nawalany. “It’s really revolutionized the field and redefined what we do.”

For example, in the old days, if someone had an aortic aneurysm, the procedure meant multiple days in the hospital. “With endovascular treatments, this has been transformed to a overnight procedure with minimal blood loss that’s down to a couple of pokes in the groin,” said Dr. Nawalany.

These more minimally invasive approaches truly benefit patients. “It’s night and day, in terms of their experience, and getting back to living,” said Dr. Nawalany. You can learn more by searching for vascular surgery on leehealth.org.