Comprehensive cardiovascular care is now more readily available in northwestern Ontario with a new surgical program for the entire region.
Vascular surgery and what is known as on-site endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is now in place at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
Health Minister Eric Hoskins was in the Lakehead Tuesday to help officially launch the newest procedure.
Hoskins says a planning grant helped get the program off the ground, but he’s hoping to announce more capital investments in the months ahead.
Hospital President Jean Barkowiak says the procedure enables surgeons to repair the heart by inserting a stent, in a minimally invasive way.
He notes the practice repairs heart valves in the same way a bicycle tire develops small air bubbles.
The first Cardio related surgery was performed in January of this year.
