Fargo Doctor Saves 91-Year-Old - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

A Fargo doctor's innovative new approach to aneurysm treatment is giving a ninety-one year old woman a chance to make it to the century mark.

Sanford radiologist Dr. Corey Teigen  started working on his new, smaller stent back in 2003.

The technology is less than half the size of the old stents and can go in patients with smaller blood vessels than before.

The technology is still only available to patients who meet strict FDA guidelines. But Florence Shanley -- who wasn't a candidate for surgery, and whose small blood vessels made it impossible for her to receive the old, standard stents -- fell outside those guidelines. Ironically, she was exactly the sort of patient who Teigen says his new stent would most benefit.

"I've been following her for some time and even since february I knew we had to do something or it was going to rupture. Believe me, I've been lying awake at night wondering if she was going to make it," he says.

As the person who developed the new stent, Teigen knew he might be able to talk the FDA into approving it for Shanley under what's known as "compassionate care." It involved a lot of paperwork, and also needed other doctors to say that Florence didn't have any other options.

It paid off. More than a month after receiving the stent, Teigen says his patient's aneurysm is gone. "Her blood flow looks good -- she's no longer at risk," he says.

Florence Shanley says she doesn't have any special advice for anyone looking to make it to ninety-one themselves. Teigen tells her she's set to make it to a hundred, if she wants. "No bad habits,  though, do you?" he asks her.

"No," Shanley replies. "I'm going to start a few now."