Timely, cutting-edge care helps a local stroke patient defy the odds

Not a Second Lost

Barbara Detrich knew something was terribly wrong. Her 84-year-old mother Sophie, who’d been cheerfully answering TV game show questions, suddenly went quiet. Her eyes were frozen open and her mouth vibrated. At first, Barbara thought her mother was choking, but when paramedics arrived, they recognized she was having a stroke.

Sophie was rushed to the Inova Fairfax Hospital Emergency Department, where a dedicated neuro-interventional team was waiting to begin treatment. A CT scan revealed a large vessel stroke in the dominant hemisphere of her brain. Her condition was so severe, she required a breathing tube to stay alive.

Because she had suffered a stroke three months earlier, Sophie could not receive the clot-busting drug tPA. Instead, interventional neuroradiologist Edward Greenberg, MD, and his team performed a mechanical endovascular thrombectomy, a cutting-edge procedure that uses state-of-the-art equipment to find and remove the clot. With fluoroscopic guidance to see the instruments and arteries in real time, Dr. Greenberg carefully threaded a series of small catheters into the blocked artery in Sophie’s brain. He then used two different mechanical techniques to extract the clot: the Penumbra System (a vacuum device) and the Trevo® Retriever (a specially designed stent).

Despite a grim prognosis, Sophie’s procedure was a complete success. “Using these new devices and advanced techniques, we were able to restore her brain function to normal,” Dr. Greenberg says. “One of the most amazing parts of the case is that there is no evidence of even a small stroke on the subsequent brain imaging that was performed. So she did indeed escape, completely unscathed.”

Nobody was more amazed by the outcome than Barbara, who credits timely action by EMS and the hospital’s neuro-interventional team with saving her mother’s life. “Everything went like clockwork,” she says. “From the time the paramedics arrived at our house to the time the team wheeled her into the operating room, not a single second was lost.”

Dr. Greenberg in turn praises Barbara’s fast action in calling 911. “Time is brain in stroke care and if she did not act so smartly and quickly, we would not have had this result,” he says. “It’s important that patients and families recognize the signs of stroke and realize that they have a key role in the outcome.”

Sophie is back at home in Springfield and more independent than ever. Barbara sometimes finds it hard to believe her mother even had a stroke. Both she and Sophie are grateful for the world-class care available so close to home. “Everyone was top-notch and on top of their game, but they were also warm, attentive and caring,” says Barbara. “It was so reassuring to feel that level of commitment. We couldn’t be more satisfied.”

 

Is it a stroke?  Take the “F.A.S.T.” Test

F = FACE.   Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?

A = ARMS.   Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one drift downward?

S = SPEECH.   Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence. Is the speech slurred or strange?

T = TIME.   If you observe any of these signs, note the time and call 911 immediately.