"'One of the Most Powerful Medical Therapies Ever' May Improve Stroke Survival Odds, Sucks Out Blood Clots" - Dr. Max Gomez
There’s a major change in New York City’s EMS system that should dramatically improve the chance of surviving a major stroke. Stroke victims must now be taken to certified stroke center that can retrieve a blood clot from the brain. For years, the only treatment for a stroke was a clot busting drug that dissolved a blood clot. Then, doctors developed a way to go in and grab the clot. Now, even better, they can actually suck it out. Strokes can strike anyone, like 53-year-old Luz Cruz. Luz had a large blood clot in a major brain artery, which J Mocco, MD, MS, vice chair of the department of neurosurgery and director of the cerebrovascular center at the Mount Sinai Health System, pointed out on her angiogram. Luckily for Luz, she was part of a clinical trial for a study comparing conventional stroke-clot grabbers with clot aspiration. “Suck the clot out. Take it out as one big piece and take it out of the head,” explained Dr. Mocco. “This is one of the most powerful medical therapies ever,” he added.
— J Mocco, MD, MS, Professor, Neurosurgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Vice Chair, Department of Neurosurgery, Director, Cerebrovascular Center, Mount Sinai Health System