Dothan surgeon implants HERO device for dialysis patients

Credit: Nick Stakelum

Dr. Jeffrey Whitehurst is one of the only surgeons in this area implanting the HeRO vascular access device.

By Jessica Lumpkin
Published: July 26, 2010

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Dialysis requires frequent access to a person’s veins in order to circulate the blood to cleanse the liquids and waste that normally would be removed by working kidneys.

Due to the recent implementation of the HeRO (Hemodialysis Reliable Outflow) Vascular Access Device by a surgeon in the area, the quality of care and life expectancy of dialysis patients who have exhausted peripheral venous access sites suitable for fistulas or grafts have found a long-term solution.

Jeffrey Whitehurst, M.D., Surgeon, of General and Vascular Surgeons, Dothan, has been implanting the HeRO device into access-challenged dialysis patients for more than 8 months now.

Implanting the HeRO graft is an alternative procedure for catheter-dependent dialysis patients whose veins are damaged. “The procedure is like combining the “permcath”- a tube or catheter usually placed in a vein in the neck, chest, or groin, to a “graft”- a synthetic tube operating as an artificial vein,” Dr. Whitehurst said.

Often, patients’ veins in their arms become scarred, narrowed and occluded due to the use of catheters, fistulas or grafts as a point of access to perform dialysis; they also become subject to severe pain and massive swelling. These types of complications make it difficult for medical providers and painful for patients to get the treatment they need. However, these obstacles can be bypassed during the HeRO procedure, said Dr. Whitehurst

“A special stent graft is placed under the large vein under the collar bone instead of in the arm, goes directly to the right atrium of the heart. The stent graft is then connected to the HeRO, which provides direct access to the arteries and an opportunity for cleansed blood to return back into the body,” explains Dr. Whitehurst.

Once the graph is in place, the patient’s skin forms around the HeRO, made of a soft material called Gortex, and doctors are then able to maintain dialysis- access for the long term.

There are all most 7,000 dialysis patients in Alabama, but Dr. Whitehurst one of the only surgeons in this area implanting the HeRO vascular access device.

With 11 years of experience as a general surgeon, Whitehurst’s goal “is to continue performing this procedure and giving dialysis patients a long-term solution that will ultimately help to keep them alive.”