Press releases

MINSK, 23 March (BelTA) – Belarus is the first country in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to use a new cutting-edge technology for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), BelTA learned from Valery Stelmashok, senior non-staff x-ray vascular surgery expert at the Belarusian Healthcare Ministry, the head of the laboratory of emergency and interventional cardiology at the National Cardiology Research Center.

Belarusian surgeons operated on two patients together with their Dutch colleagues on 22 March. New-type stent-grafts were placed at the site of the aneurysm. “This is an absolutely new device, the most advanced technology available,” Valery Stelmashok noted.

Stent-grafts have already been used in Belarus to repair abdominal aortic aneurysm for some time. The new-type devices are special as they can be used to treat the most difficult AAA cases. The stent-grafts that were used before were not suitable for all. “Now we can operate on more patients,” Valery Stelmashok said. He added that several hundreds of people need the surgery every year.

The condition of the two patients who have undergone the surgery is described as good. Specialists believe they will be ready for discharge next week. The Belarusian surgeons plan to use the new-type stent-grafts to operate on two more patients on 23 March.