Vascular services patient information

There are two types of treatment to open up blocked (‘occluded’) or narrowed (‘stenosed’) arteries without the need for surgical incisions in the skin. 

An aortofemoral bypass for your aortoiliac arterial disease, or peripheral arterial disease (PAD), involves opening your abdomen (tummy) and your groins to bypass your diseased arteries with an artificial piece of artery (surgical graft).

Read more about preparing for surgery and the tests and assessments you will need to have.

A standard aortic stent graft seals below the arteries to the kidneys. If there is not enough normal aorta below the arteries to the kidneys, including when an aneurysm extends into the chest, a standard stent graft is not an option. 

Open surgery for your abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) involves opening your abdomen (tummy) to repair your aneurysm with an artificial piece of artery (surgical graft). 

Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is a type of minimally-invasive surgery that involves inserting a stent graft to repair an aortic aneurysm, which is a bulge in the aorta.

A stent graft is a metal skeleton (the ‘stent’) sewn (or glued) to one or more fabric tubes (the ‘graft’).

The aorta is the largest artery in the body. It carries blood from the heart through the chest and abdomen (tummy). At around the level of the belly button the aorta divides into two iliac arteries carrying blood to each leg.

An aneurysm develops when the wall of a blood vessel becomes less elastic and starts to ‘balloon’, this makes the wall weaker and at risk of bursting (rupture).

An aortic dissection develops when the wall of the aorta becomes less elastic and tears.