Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) - may not be a condition you have heard much about, but it is the 13th leading cause of death in the United States, with 15,000 lives lost and 200,000 new cases diagnosed each year. About 1.5 million people are affected by AAA, which is a bulging or ballooning of the artery wall. Two Mayo Clinic studies document a three-fold increase in the incidence of AAA over the past 40 years.

The physicians and surgeons of Oklahoma Cardiovascular Associates (OCA) are now treating patients that have this potentially fatal disease with a new, less invasive procedure that significantly simplifies the often complex surgery, and decreases the risks and prolonged recovery period associated with the traditional, open procedure.

First performed in the state by OCA physicians Jim G. Melton, D.O., a peripheral vascular surgeon, and Robert M. Kipperman, M.D., a cardiologist, this new procedure is minimally invasive and makes it possible for patients who would not have been referred as candidates for open surgery to be reevaluated for the endovascular approach.