SURGERY Man from Salem receives sensor implant

He is believed to be the first in the nation to get the cutting-edge device.
STAFF/WIRE REPORTS
CLEVELAND -- Surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic have implanted wireless sensors in two patients, including one from Salem, to monitor aneurysm repair, the first time the procedure is believed to have been done in the United States.
Dr. Kenneth Ouriel, chairman of the clinic's division of surgery, and Dr. Daniel Clair, a vascular surgeon at the clinic, implanted sensors in two patients Thursday.
Their first patient, Gene Zeppernick of Salem, is believed to be the first person in the United States to get one. The device has been used successfully in 12 patients in South America.
An abdominal aortic aneurysm is a bulge in an artery's wall. An Atlanta-based company has created a sensor that measures pressure in the aneurysm sac.
"And from a medical perspective, it gives us information we've never had before," said Dr. Jay Yadav, director of vascular intervention at the clinic.
Zeppernick, a 68-year-old retired truck driver, may be sent home as early as Saturday, his daughter-in-law, Penny Zeppernick, of Salem, said today.
"The whole family is thrilled that he's doing so well," she said.
Aneurysm
Zeppernick hadn't been feeling well and his regular physician diagnosed the aneurysm.
A stent -- a wire mesh tube -- was inserted in the artery to help repair the aneurysm. Any blood leakage from the stent can be checked with a monitor held against his back, Penny Zeppernick said. The sensor will remain in his body.
"He was kind of excited about being part of the project," she said.
In addition to his son, Marion, Zeppernick has two daughters, Tami Bash of Salem and Jeanie Burrier of Akron.
The Cleveland Clinic and other institutions across the country are studying the device, since the Food and Drug Administration granted approval for such an investigation. Yadav said he expects FDA approval by next year and added that another study of the device, relating to heart failure, is in the works.
Dr. Takao Ohki, chief of vascular and endovascular surgery at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, worked on most of the South American cases. He predicted the device will "change the way physicians monitor patients."