Aortic Centre – National University Heart Centre, Singapore
The NUHCS Aortic Centre offers patients with aortic diseases with specialised care by a multidisciplinary team of doctors. The team includes vascular surgeons, cardiac surgeons, interventional radiologists, vascular medicine cardiologists, stroke physicians and cardiovascular anesthesiologists.
Our treatment plans are specific to their conditions in order to minimise complications from aortic diseases and to improve the long term outcomes of the treatment. The multidisciplinary team of doctors hold weekly meetings to discuss all aortic cases to ensure that all treatment decisions are sound and based on evidence.
Our goal is to treat aortic disease patients in Singapore. We take tertiary referrals for second opinions and definitive treatments from both restructured hospitals and private hospitals.
For more information or to book an appointment, kindly email us at: aortic_centre@nuhs.edu.sg.
The care team at the aortic centre helps to diagnose, advise, treat and follow up on aortic diseases with imaging technology in our vascular lab and diagnostic radiology. In addition, we have a hybrid operating theatre since 2011 that allows for the execution of both open and endovascular aortic surgeries, and combined hybrid surgeries (with or without heart-lung bypass machine) all in one place.
We specialise in treating the following conditions:
- Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms
- Thoracoabdominal Aneurysms
- Acute & Chronic Aortic Dissections (Stanford A&B)
- Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms
- Penetrating Aortic Ulcers
- Intramural Haematoma
- Mycotic Aneurysms
- Marfan Aortic Disease
- Blunt Aortic Injury
- Aneurysm Screening
1. Open Aortic Surgery
All the conditions mentioned above can be treated by traditional open chest or open abdominal surgery to repair the aorta. After initial consultation and a meeting amongst our multidisciplinary specialists, the patient will go through tests and treatments to optimise his or her condition before going for open surgical repair.
Our dedicated anaesthetic team helps to see this through.
Depending on the location of the disease, the patient may need a heart-lung bypass machine to assist in the surgery if the aortic repair is done in the chest.
However, if aortic surgery is only done in the abdomen, it is rarely required.
These major surgeries may affect the circulation to the spinal cord and it is not uncommon to put a drain in the spinal cord before surgery in order to reduce pressure in the nerves and minimise complications from cord damage.
The objective of the surgery is to replace the diseased portion of the aorta with a hand sewn artificial graft done by our surgeons. After the surgery, the patient will be transferred to our cardiac intensive care for a brief period of post-operative care. Then, the patient will rest at the general ward for rehabilitation until he/she is fit for discharge.
2. Endovascular Stenting Surgery
In the last 20 years, aortic surgery has changed rapidly with technology. Our centre not only provides care but also helps to teach many surgeons in Asia to acquire this relative new technique.
Without opening the chest or abdomen, surgery can be performed through two small holes in the groin. Under X-ray guidance, an off-the-shelf stent device or customised stent device can be inserted through the femoral artery into the affected aortic segment. Then, the stent is deployed to exclude the disease segment of the aorta and normal circulation is restored.
In complexed cases, branched stents may be deployed for more complex pathology to maintain stability. This normally requires two consultant surgeons or interventional radiologists working together. The medical care process through intensive care and general ward pathway is the same as open surgery but has the advantage of a shorter hospital stay overall and faster recovery. However, this only applies to certain anatomy in a particular patient group.
3. Hybrid Aortic Surgery
This is where both traditional open surgical techniques and endovascular techniques are used at the same time. This normally applies to complexed thoracoabdominal aneurysm and dissections as well as complexed aortic arch aneurysm. The objective is to reduce the amount of open surgery used in order to minimise morbidity and improve recovery rates. The recovery pathways are the same as the above two surgeries.
For more information or to book an appointment, kindly email us at: aortic_centre@nuhs.edu.sg.
