BREAKTHROUGHS - FALL 2011

A new technology is helping doctors care for previously untreatable cerebral aneurysms, which are potentially deadly balloon-like swellings in the walls of brain blood vessels. The technology, called a Pipeline embolization device, allows doctors to block the blood flowing into the aneurysm, setting in a motion a chain of events that leads to repair of the blood vessel wall.

Editor’s Note: Washington University radiologist Christopher Moran, MD, is a paid consultant for EV3, maker of the Pipeline embolization device.

Washington University radiation oncologists with the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center have a new tool in the treatment of prostate cancer that targets tumors and can stop treatment automatically if the tumor moves due to normal body functions. The technology, called “gating,” sets limits for motion. If the area in the prostate that is being targeted moves, radiation delivery is halted automatically, thereby protecting healthy tissue. Siteman is the first facility to use the gating technology with real-time tumor tracking. 

Learn more about tumor tracking in the treatment of prostate cancer.

Washington University physicians are implanting an investigational left ventricular assist device (LVAD) to help patients awaiting heart transplant and those in later stages of heart failure who are not eligible for transplant. Smaller than earlier LVADs, it contains a magnetically levitating rotor that provides continuous blood flow. This unique design limits wear and makes the device silent and vibration free. Early data show excellent survival and few complications.

Learn more about the LVAD and its use in treating patients with heart failure.