The incidence of abdominal aortic aneurysm, a weakened, bulging, ready-to-rupture artery, is estimated at 52 per 100,000 per annum in men aged 55-64 years and 499 per 100,000 per annum in men over 80 years.  Surgeons are wary of operating on bulging major arteries, called aneurysms, not only for fear they may rupture during surgery, but because paraplegia, paralysis below the waist, is a common occurrence in survivors of abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.  The paralysis results from injury or occlusion of the spinal artery that supplies the spinal cord.  Paralysis commonly occurs, up to 32 percent of the time.  The spinal cord must be protected throughout the surgery.

Now researchers report a potential breakthrough that would prevent paralysis caused by surgical intervention to repair aneursysms – resveratrol.  Surgeons at Columbia University in New York performed experimental aneurysm repair on rabbits, pre-treating 8 rabbits with resveratrol and 8 rabbits were untreated.  Research-grade resveratrol was utilized and light exposure was avoided prior to use as it is a light-sensitive molecule.  The treated rabbits received an extremely high intravenous dose, equivalent to 7000 milligrams in a human, just prior to surgery.  Here are the results of that experiment.  One wonders how much longer modern medicine can go before it appeals to the FDA for experimental human use of resveratrol. 

Reference:  Annals Thoracic Surgery 80: 2242-49, 2005
Copyright 2005 Bill Sardi, for Resveratrol News