Stroke, also called brain attack, occurs when blood flow to the brain is disrupted. Disruption in blood flow is caused when either a blood clot blocks one of the vital blood vessels in the brain (ischemic stroke), or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts, spilling blood into surrounding tissues (hemorrhagic stroke).
For more information on the signs and symptoms of a stroke, please visit the National Stroke Association.
For stroke patients, time is of the essence. That’s because rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke significantly improves patient outcomes. The specific treatment needed is primarily based on the stroke type.
- Iscemic Stroke occurs when a clot blocks a vessel that supplies blood to the brain. The treatment goal is to remove or break-up the clot. Our team excels at physical removal of the blood clot, through an endovascular procedure or a mechanical thrombectomy.
Thrombectomy allows a surgeon to use a wire cage device called a stent retriever to remove a large blood clot. The process involves threading a catheter through an artery in the groin up to the blocked artery in the brain. The stent opens and grabs the clot. Special suction tubes may also be used to remove the clot.
- Hemorrhagic Stroke requires intervention to stop brain bleeding when a blood vessel in the brain bursts. An endovascular neurosurgery procedure is often recommended to treat this condition. A surgeon threads a catheter through a major artery in the leg or arm and guides it to the brain tissue using camera technology. After the catheter reaches the source of the bleeding, it deposits a mechanical agent, such as a coil to form a clot and stop the bleeding.
Other common diseases treated include carotid artery stenosis, cerebral aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) of the brain and spine, and dural AVMs of the brain and spine. Occasionally, brain tumors can also be treated with a combination of endovascular surgery and open neurosurgical procedures.
Endovascular neurosurgery combines neurosurgery with a field called “interventional neuroradiology.” Instead of open operations, this minimally-invasive technique uses X-ray imaging, catheters, and various embolic (clotting) agents to treat diseases of the blood vessels of the brain and spine. The “surgery” is performed in a fluoroscopy suite rather than an operating room, and the procedure is done within the blood vessels by using catheters to treat blood vessel abnormalities with obstructing particles, polymers or stents.
View our extensive animation library to learn more about what we treat and the procedures we perform.