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I would like to acquire a better understanding of the the limits / requirements of minimally invasive (endovascular graft or the similar) procedure.

What are the keywords for Google and concepts that need to be reviewed in order to advocate for a family member? I appreciate the support of the community.

@anongoodnurse: I am interested in advocating for an immediate family member. I am able to understand most medical journals. Thank you for the helpful / constructive comments

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    Start by using Google Scholar, not Google. Type in (without quotes) "minimally invasive techniques for treatment of ascending aortic aneurysm" and pick a relatively recent (2000s) article. If you can't understand it, use plain Google and read the hits until you understand it enough to read the Google Scholar hits. // What kind of advocate do you want to be? Sometimes just going to office visits with the patient and listening carefully so you can repeat back to the patient what was said helps a lot. If you're not a medical person, can you learn enough about it to advocate effectively?
    – anongoodnurse
    Commented Jun 14, 2023 at 17:51
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    I've acted as a patient advocate many times. Patients can't remember 75-80% (sometimes more) of what a physician say because usually the patient is somewhat anxious, and anxiety interferes with memory retention. If you can remember for them, you can help them make better decisions. (That's one reason doctors give patients handouts; with something very specific, the doctor might not have a handout to give.)
    – anongoodnurse
    Commented Jun 14, 2023 at 18:02

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In general a consenting procedure should consist of the following components:

  1. why the procedure is needed (type A aortic dissection / aneurysm)
  2. what is the procedure (endovascular graft)
  3. what are the risks of procedure (bleeding, infection, graft complications, recurrence, failure, stroke, death, etc)
  4. what are the risks of NOT performing the procedure (risks associated with the condition, which is rather nasty)
  5. what are the alternatives to the procedure (eg open surgery, medical therapy - ie just control blood pressure and accept the risk and consequences of worsening)

If you go down the route of Google Scholar / primary literatures, you may find discrepancies between various studies, or even conflicting statements. Therefore, I would recommend you to use keywords such as "review" or "guidelines" alongside with the specific condition, to obtain knowledge synthesized by field experts.

I would also recommend you to use the PICO framework if you find the above inadequate and would still like to dig deeper. Good luck!

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  • Nice idea about PICO search. I just did one, and there wasn't a single pertinent hit. :-/
    – anongoodnurse
    Commented Jun 21, 2023 at 14:58

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