MercyOne’s vascular surgery team, including Dr. David Chew and Dr. Zane Young of the MercyOne Iowa Heart Center, was the first in Iowa to perform a new minimally invasive vascular surgery. The surgeons performed a thoracoabdominal branch endoprosthesis, also known as a TAMBE, a device designed to treat thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms and high-risk patients with other types of aortic aneurysms. An aortic aneurysm is a weakening in the wall of the body’s main artery, the aorta, which carries blood from the heart to the body. When untreated, it will lead to rupture and potential death. “TAMBE requires advanced expertise and imaging equipment, which are available only in select centers in the state. It significantly increases our flexibility to operate on the entire aorta in a minimally invasive approach, offering patients with this complex issue the highest level of specialty care,” Chew said in a news release.
