VA Medical Center surgeon develops new endovascular technique

Vascular surgeon Carlos Bechara checks in on Army Veteran Alfred Landrum.

Carlos Bechara, a staff vascular surgeon at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, has developed and published a new endovascular technique to treat flush Iliac artery occlusion.

The complex vascular problem occurs when there is blockage of an artery where it splits into two. According to a hospital press release, this condition is difficult to treat with minimally invasive surgery because there is no room for a wire and catheter to go through the blockage in order to place a stent, resulting in open bypass surgery.

Bechara, who is also the program director of Vascular Surgery Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine, got around this problem by placing a balloon at the fork of the artery. By doing this, he has found a way to allow passage of the wire through the blockage, allowing insertion of a stent.

"I did not think much about this technique when I first performed the procedure except that it was an obvious solution for a complex problem," Bechara said in the release. "Since publishing the article in the Journal of Vascular Surgery, I have already been told by other surgeons that they have had great success using this technique."

Bechara's technique will be featured during the VIETH 39th annual Symposium on Vascular and Endovascular Issues in New York this year. The VEITH Symposium is one of the world's largest gatherings of vascular surgeons and vascular specialists.

"I am proud the technique that I developed will be featured at one of the most prominent vascular meetings in the world," Bechara said in the release. "Something like this is a dream come true for a young surgeon like myself."

The Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center is at 2002 Holcombe Blvd., Houston.

For more information, visit www.houston.va.gov.