Patients diagnosed with mesenteric artery thrombosis (MAT), a rare and acute abdominal condition that has a fatality rate of about 70 percent, could now be better treated through the application of AngioJet hydrodynamic suction thrombectomy (AngioJet), doctors said.
Hsu Chiao-po (許喬博) of Taipei Veterans General Hospital’s (TVGH) Department of Cardiovascular Surgery said an 80-year-old female patient from Hsinchu City was recently diagnosed with MAT after complaining about abdominal pain accompanied by bloody stools.
The woman already suffered from chronic valvular heart disease, atrial fibrillation and liver cirrhosis, and had a history of liver tumors, Hsu said.
Following her referral to the TVGH for emergency treatment, Hsu said a doctor from the Department of Digestive Surgery was disinclined to treat her conditions by removing her necrotic intestines caused by blood clots, considering the large scope of the resection and her low chance of survival after such surgery.
Nor was the doctor willing to resort to the more traditional method of performing an embolectomy to restore blood flow, Hsu said, given the age of the patient and the high surgical risk.
Carefully weighing the risks and benefits, the doctor subsequently advised the patient to undergo AngioJet therapy, Hsu said.
AngioJet is designed to remove thrombus by streaming a high-pressure saline jet through a device based on the Bernoulli principle, a basic principle of fluid behavior, Hsu said. The method first delivers and disperses clot-dissolving drugs directly into the thrombus through a catheter, and then removes the clot fragments.
He said that although an abdominal exploration operation conducted following the AngioJet and an intestinal vessel reconstruction found the woman’s blood supply to her intestines still remained low, no further necrotic tissue was detected.
After one week of post-operative therapy, the patient was found to have recovered well, with no blood in her stools or abdominal pain, Hsu said.
“Patients with acute arterial occlusion require emergency management. They are advised to adopt the AngioJet after a thorough medical assessment to prevent blood clots from spreading further and damaging their vascular structure,” Hsu said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai