Monroe, LA - St. Francis Medical Center is now offering a new technology for removing stroke-causing blood clots: treatment with a stent-triever, also known as a retrievable stent. As the only hospital for almost 100 miles in any direction to offer this therapy, St. Francis hopes to improve the likelihood of a meaningful life for the patients in this community who suffer a stroke. At St. Francis, the device has already been used successfully in several cases of acute stroke. Since 1995, patients with ischemic stroke who present to a hospital within three hours from the time of onset have been treated with intravenous (IV) "clot busting" medicines, now often referred to as IV TPA (tissue plasminogen activator). Soon thereafter, methods developed to deliver the TPA directly into the clot, from within the artery - intra-arterial (IA TPA). More recently, for patients who cannot receive TPA, various devices have been developed to mechanically extract the stroke-causing blood clot, the newest called stent-trievers. The two TPA methods remain limited by the time required to restore blood flow. Mechanical devices offer the distinct advantage of more rapid flow restoration. For the patient who cannot receive the medicine, mechanical extraction is the only option for treatment.Two stent-triever devices were approved in 2012 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke. A stent is a lace-like metallic tube that exerts radial force on the vessel, keeping it open. The stent-triever device is much like the metallic stents used in heart revascularization procedures, but in the case of stroke treatment, the stent-like device is not permanently deployed. From an artery in the groin, the device is carefully manipulated into the brain. Once positioned in the clot, it is deployed, forcing the clot to the margins of the vessel, thereby re-establishing blood flow to the brain. Finally, the device, along with the entwined clot, is captured and removed. St. Francis Medical Center is the only hospital in the area to have subspecialty trained neuroradiologists who perform stroke intervention - Dr. Michael Barraza and Dr. Blake McGehee. For stroke patients, St. Francis Medical Center is proud to offer both the traditional IV and IA therapy of TPA or, if necessary, mechanical treatment with a stent-triever. One thing is clear from current medical research, opening the artery quickly is vital to a meaningful recovery and the stent-triever system can often do so in a procedure time of less than one hour. Time is brain, as they say, and the Stroke Team at St. Francis Medical Center is ready--24/7/365.
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St. Francis Medical Center Now Offering New Technology for Stroke Care