Local surgeon performs new procedure

The key to medical advancement is not only the invention and discovery of new methods but also the skilled physician who is willing to learn and enter the latest frontiers of medicine.

Onyx, a liquid embolic material, is one of those new discoveries available for patients with cerebral aneurysms, classified as “wide-neck.” George Rappard M.D., a neuroendovascular surgeon from La Cañada Flintridge, performed the first aneurysm embolization surgery using Onyx in California on Sept. 23 at Glendale Adventist Medical Center.

The Food and Drug Administration only recently approved the treatment and just 25 hospitals in the United States have used this new method. About 60-70 brain surgeries are performed each year at Rappard’s clinic, the Los Angeles Brain and Spine Institute in Glendale. Due to this volume of work, and Rappard’s mission to bring new technology to a wider group of patients, he was approved to perform this new surgery using Onyx.

Rappard grew up in La Cañada, attending La Cañada Elementary School, graduating La Cañada High School in 1984 and then serving in the military. After his tour of duty he went to Pasadena City College, then to UCLA and George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

He moved back to La Cañada with his family where his children now attend Palm Crest Elementary.

He wasn’t always certain what field of medicine he wanted to practice, but after learning more about the brain, he was hooked.

“I thought the brain was fascinating,” Rappard said. “But I wasn’t really attracted to drilling into the head.”

The brain is a delicate organ, therefore the surgeries performed on it should be equally as delicate, Rappard said.

Cerebral aneurysms are vascular abnormalities in the brain that are characterized by a bulge in the wall of a blood vessel that can balloon out and rupture.

“When [aneurysms] rupture and bleed it can be catastrophic,” Rappard said. “The risk of death is 50% and the risk of severe disability is 70%.”

His recent surgery using Oynx was the type of technology he looks for in his practice. His patient suffered from a cerebral aneurysm. In the past, her surgery would have required months of recovery time.

“She left the hospital [the day] after her surgery,” Rappard said.

Rappard said 2% of the American population is affected by a brain aneurysm. According to a report by the University of Maryland Medical Center, “wide neck” aneurysms make up about 25% of the people with brain aneurysms.