11 Oct 2021 Baptist Health first in state to use new device for treating brain aneurysms

LITTLE ROCK – Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock recently became the first hospital in Arkansas to use a new device to treat brain aneurysms.

The Pipeline Flex Embolization Device with Shield Technology diverts blood flow away from a brain aneurysm and reconstructs the diseased section of the parent vessel. It is the first commercially available flow diverter and features a braided cylindrical mesh tube that is implanted across the base, or neck, of the aneurysm.

Brain aneurysms are weak or thin spots on a blood vessel in the brain that balloon out and fill with blood. A bulging aneurysm can put pressure on a nerve or surrounding brain tissue. In rare circumstances, the aneurysm can leak causing subarachnoid hemorrhage.

The more traditional treatment for an unruptured aneurysm involves inserting a flow-diverting stent; however, this can potentially result in blood clotting, which can lead to complications like stroke. The new Pipeline Flex Embolization Device with Shield Technology offered at Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock is coated with a substance that in pre-clinical studies has been shown to reduce the risk of clot formation.

An estimated 500,000 people throughout the world die each year due to ruptured brain aneurysms, with half the victims younger than 50 years of age. As the most studied flow diverter worldwide, Pipeline Embolization Device has been used to treat patients in the United States since 2011 and is now available with Shield Technology.

To learn more about the innovative Pipeline Flex Embolization Device and neuroendovascular services, call Baptist Health HealthLine at 1-888-BAPTIST or visit baptist-health.com.