Doctors in Dagestan have performed a groundbreaking hybrid surgery to save the leg of a 76-year-old patient, averting an imminent amputation. This first-of-its-kind procedure for the republic was carried out at Derbent Central City Hospital on a man whose severe atherosclerosis had nearly completely blocked the main artery to his right leg, threatening gangrene. His case was complicated by an inability to tolerate long anesthesia.

Facing this challenge, surgeons executed a rare simultaneous intervention. Using real-time imaging, they cleared the artery from within and placed a stent, while also surgically attaching a bypass graft from the outside to restore blood flow. The combined approach enabled the patient to walk pain-free almost immediately after the operation.