Gratitude Stories - Bruce
Innovative procedure gives him a ‘new lease on life’
Retired auto repair shop owner Bruce Balemian could fix any car problem he encountered. But when a serious health issue threatened his mobility and quality of life, Bruce needed someone else in the driver’s seat to get back on the road to wellness.
“My last few years working, I started developing pain in my back and both legs on long walks,” Bruce recounts. “As time went on the pain became unbearable even on short walks; it would come on after just 50 to 75 feet, and I would have to stop and sit for 15 minutes then continue.”
Initially, his primary care physician thought the discomfort may be linked to Bruce’s type 2 diabetes. But that was ruled out. Later, an orthopedist determined he had lower lumbar spinal stenosis and recommended spinal injections. Bruce’s back pain got better, but his leg pain was getting worse.
On one of his visits, the orthopedist took a stethoscope and listened to his ankles and feet. “He said ‘You don’t have a pulse in your feet,’” Bruce recalls. So, he was sent to a vascular specialist at a local hospital. There, a CT scan with contrast revealed many blockages in Bruce’s lower aorta and surrounding area.
In similar cases, aortobifemoral bypass surgery, which redirects blood from the blocked vessels through a graft sewn into existing arteries, is often an option. But Bruce had such severely calcified blockages, that the surgeon didn’t feel they would be able to cross clamp his arteries during surgery. It was simply too risky to attempt.
Fortunately, the chief of surgery at that hospital knew a colleague practicing elsewhere who was engaged in advanced, groundbreaking vascular medicine that could help Bruce. The colleague was Peter A. Soukas, MD, Director of the Peripheral Vascular Interventional Laboratory at The Miriam.
Dr. Soukas’ performs an innovative, minimally invasive procedure called Shockwave Intravascular Lithotripsy (IVL) to treat patients like Bruce. “The technology sends a shockwave of sonic pressure waves through the blocked arteries that causes the plaque deposits to fracture, much like a windshield does when hit by a rock,” Dr. Soukas explains. “As a result of the fracturing, the blockage becomes softer, more malleable, and the artery can be expanded and blood flow restored with the placement of a stent—and without unnecessary complications.”
The Miriam was the first hospital in New England to offer such procedures in July 2017, and Bruce was the first patient in the region to be treated with the new larger L6 Shockwave balloons, which is designed for severely calcified large vessels.
On December 8, 2023, Bruce underwent the successful surgery and is grateful to be back to his old self. “Thanks to The Miriam, Dr. Soukas, and the Shockwave device, I function like a normal 66-year-old,” he smiles. “I walk all over the place with no pain. I was given a new lease on life!”