by Miriam G. Desacada
Tacloban City–Two patients, earlier diagnosed with brain aneurysm, underwent the first successful transfemoral cerebral angiogram procedure, a first of its kind done in the Eastern Visayas Medical Center (EVMC) in Tacloban City.
The physician who did this pioneering medical feat in the region was Dr. John Peter Paiso, one of the country’s few endovascular neurosurgeons who had just recently returned to EVMC after undergoing extensive training with his team about this medical procedure at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital in South Korea.
Paiso told the media that this type of angiogram procedure is the latest technology in determining the extent of blood vessels condition—especially for those who had stroke, aneurysm, and tumor—and then the correct ways to treat any abnormalities.
“This is a minimally invasive procedure that paves the way for faster treatment of patients without them undergoing open brain surgery,” he said.
Online sources define brain aneurysm—known also as cerebral aneurysm—as a bulge or ballooning in a weakened area of a blood vessel wall in the brain, which can rupture and cause a life-threatening hemorrhage.
And transfemoral cerebral angiogram, done by Paiso, is the latest technology to visualize the real-time condition of a patient’s blood vessel without the need of undergoing surgery.
This procedure, done by a surgeon in a cardio catheterization laboratory, uses a small tube or catheter inserted into the femoral artery close in the groin, using a special dye to make them visible. The surgeon will then be able to see any abnormalities, or vascular malformations, bulging blood vessels (aneurysm) or arterial blockades in the brain, which is then gradually removed.
Paiso added that EVMC is now the only medical center in the region that has the capability to do the procedure, confirming that EVMC has been exploring ways to expand its proficiency in quality health care system for patients across Eastern Visayas.
He also explained that EVMC’s cardio catetherization laboratory was also used to treat patients with heart abnormalities, such as angioplasty procedures that were done by the hospital starting in 2022.
Sources stated that angioplasty is a procedure to open narrowed or blocked arteries, often using a balloon to widen the artery and a stent (a small mesh tube) to keep it open.
Tacloban City’s EVMC (Eastern Visayas Medical Center) is now the official name—renamed from EVRMC (Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center)—through Republic Act 11567, which was enacted on June 24, 2021. —Miriam G. Desacada