Northside first in Georgia to perform intravascular procedure

PRESS RELEASE

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Northside Vascular Surgery’s Dr. Siddharth Patel has performed Georgia’s first balloon lithotripsy in the carotid artery.

Balloon lithotripsy is an emerging endovascular technology that breaks up calcified plaque within arteries using sonic pressure waves. Lithotripsy has previously been used to treat kidney stones that are too large to pass through the urinary tract. It already has robust data within the coronary and lower extremity circulation to treat blockages.

Always on the forefront of the newest treatments and technologies for vascular disorders, Northside Hospital’s vascular surgeons treat everything from the simplest to most complex arterial conditions utilizing minimally invasive techniques.

Dr. Patel performed the first balloon lithotripsy procedure June 17 at Northside Hospital Forsyth, in conjunction with TransCarotid Artery Revascularization (TCAR), a minimally-invasive stenting procedure that effectively treats carotid artery disease in older and high-risk patients.

Northside is a TCAR Center of Excellence, and Dr. Patel has performed more TCAR procedures than any other vascular surgeon in Georgia.

“We hope this combination therapy will further open the doors to minimally invasive carotid therapy for many patients who otherwise would not be candidates for critical life-preserving surgery,” said Dr. Patel.