Dr. Mina Boutrous<\/a> to convince me and my daughter that there was actually in fact something we could do to unclog my carotid arteries and prevent future strokes. We booked the procedure right away.\u201d<\/p>\nThis August Lee successfully received a new minimally invasive procedure called TCAR to unblock his severely narrowed left carotid artery and to restore proper blood flow and prevent future strokes and blindness in his other eye where he was already experiencing blurred vision.<\/p>\n
TCAR (transcarotid artery revascularization), for high-risk carotid artery disease patients, is an innovative and least invasive approach which works by redirecting blood flow during carotid artery stenting to minimize a high-risk surgery patient\u2019s risk of a stroke.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thing I noticed post-TCAR procedure was that my severe headaches and pain were a thing of the past, and my remaining vision was nowhere near as blurry. I now can read the television screen again without the volume blaring. Now that\u2019s awesome results.\u201d<\/p>\n
His message to other older adults like him who are told there is nothing that can be done about their dangerously blocked carotid arteries: \u201cDon\u2019t give up!\u201d There is now a procedure called TCAR and I recommend that you do it!<\/p>\n
\u201cMy doctor told me if I had another stroke there was a good chance I may not have another lucky survival. I am so glad I found a way with the help of Dr. Boutrous at UConn Health.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few months post-procedure Lee reports he\u2019s doing well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel pretty darn good. It really worked out well and I am doing good,\u201d says Lee. \u201cYour blocked carotid arteries can be taken care of. Just listen to the doctors and learn how. It worked for me and can work for you. Don\u2019t be afraid, especially you older people like me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee reminds everyone to keep their risk of stroke as low as possible too.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember a lot of stuff can clog up your arteries,\u201d says Lee who reports having drank a lot of beer in his youth and past, and also not previously worrying about his diet too much such as salt intake. He also in his 60s had heart blockages develop that needed artery stenting and eventually open heart surgery repair.<\/p>\n
Thanks to Boutrous\u2019 innovative care Lee is grateful to be back spending time with his children and grandchildren, tending to his love of plants, baking, and cooking.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have my life back, even at this time of a pandemic,\u201d stresses Lee.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very rewarding to help Mr. Lee lower the risk of future stroke and blindness,\u201d said\u00a0Dr. Mina Boutrous, assistant professor in the Department of Surgery\u2019s Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery. \u201cThanks to TCAR innovation we are now able to successfully perform this minimally invasive procedure on patients who ordinarily wouldn\u2019t be candidates for carotid artery surgery such as the most fragile, older adults. In addition to being potentially lifesaving, TCAR has been shown to help reduce stroke risk and improve quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boutrous is currently working toward making UConn Health a designated center of excellence for TCAR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
February is American Heart Month but managing your overall cardiovascular health includes stroke prevention too. Learn about how one stroke survivor beat the odds and is now preventing a future stroke with UConn Health’s innovative help. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":169329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2231,1868,2294,179],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1873],"class_list":["post-169227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-well-being","category-meds","category-all-surgery","category-uconn-health","series-heart-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-03 21:12:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169227"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171448,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169227\/revisions\/171448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/169329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169227"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=169227"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=169227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}