Just a few months ago, Heidi Lamar's future didn't look so bright. For the last 8 years, Lamar has lived with a ticking time bomb in her head -- an aneurysm. Last fall it started to grow. She needed to take action.
"I wouldn't have a very good chance of living a long, healthy life," Lamar told Ivanhoe.
Lamar found Nasser Razack, M.D., who's using a special glue called liquid Onyx to prevent aneurysms from rupturing. During the procedure, doctors feed a catheter through an artery in the leg, up into the brain. The glue is slowly injected into the aneurysm and hardens in place. A balloon protects the rest of the brain from the glue.
"Really, our goal is to seal that aneurysm shut," Dr. Razack, President and CEO of Neurointerventional Associates in St. Petersburg, Fla., told Ivanhoe.
Another treatment option called coiling fills the aneurysm with wire, but it only fills 30 to 40 percent of the space. Onyx fills it 100 percent.
"It's almost like a silly-putty-like substance that really goes into an aneurysm and fills the contours of that aneurysm, just like you're filling a glass with liquid," Dr. Razack said.
A follow-up angiogram revealed a second aneurysm in Lamar's brain. She also had it treated with the glue.
"Kind of like the cat with nine lives theory," Lamar said.
Today, Lamar is focused on the road ahead.
The glue has risks, including traveling to the wrong place in the brain or causing a blood vessel to rupture during treatment. Dr. Razack says while Onyx is a good treatment for some aneurysms, surgery is also a reliable option. He has used the glue in more than 30 procedures.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Dr. Nasser Razack
(727) 289-7139
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