CINCINNATI (Liz Bonis) -- There is a new robotic treatment option that can repair a dangerous problem known as AAA.Just a few months ago, Robert Vettel was referred to Dr. Patrick Muck when a scan he's had for another heath concern came back. The other concern turned out not to be a problem, however his doctor had caught something else.He says you got some aneurysms in your aorta and I almost fell out of the house because I knew what the seriousness of it was, said Robert.Vettel needed surgery right away because aneurysms can burst under pressure.The whole goal of aneurysm surgery is to depressurize the aneurysm, said Dr. Patrick Muck.Dr. Muck took Vettel inside a surgery. Vettel became one of Dr. Mucks first patients to undergo what's called AAA surgery or Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Surgery with the help of a Magellan Robotic System.Here's how it works, Dr. Muck makes tiny incisions in the groin area and the robot helps him run tiny tubes called catheters under X-ray guidance, right up the area where the aneurysm needs to be treated.While only one of the aneurysms was robot appropriate so to speak.Utilizing this Magellan, we were able to navigate to the appropriate artery to that aneurysm and deliver therapy through coils which helped to depressurize that aneurysm.In the end, what that means is that patients that normally would not be able to have an operation like that if they had to use a full incision, because they are at high risk, could now have surgeries that are lifesaving, allowing them to live many healthy years beyond.I went to the grocery store and I was walking on air, said Vettel. I couldn't believe what I was doing, I mean I just got out of surgery.Vettel says he is grateful to Dr. Mucks team because without first the discovery and then this minimally invasive robotic procedure he said that he probably wouldn't have seen springtime.Dr. Mucks team is now one of just eight in the country using the new vascular robotic treatment system.Follow Liz Bonis on Twitter @lbonis1, and LIKE her on Facebook.Follow us on Twitter @Local12 and LIKE us on Facebook for updates!
