Building a network of endovascular stroke centers to treat patients throughout Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky is one of our latest innovations at Mayfield Brain & Spine. In partnership with some of the region’s leading health systems, Mayfield neurosurgeons envision a network of “thrombectomy-ready” stroke centers that are prepared to treat patients experiencing even the most serious strokes.
Ohio lawmakers and Gov. Mike DeWine moved to enhance this approach in June when they passed and signed into law a measure mandating new guidelines to assess and transport stroke patients to locations and physicians prepared to handle them. Research shows that reducing the time before treating a blood clot and restoring blood flow will significantly improve outcomes. It is critically important that the guidelines prioritize getting patients to the variety of thrombectomy-ready stroke centers in Greater Cincinnati and throughout Ohio.
For more information about the basics of strokes and stroke care at Mayfield, read in our Health Topics library.
Mayfield is working with partners at TriHealth, Mercy Health, The Christ Hospital and St. Elizabeth Healthcare to create and enhance the regional stroke network. In contrast to the traditional approach of transporting all stroke patients to a small number of critical-care centers close to the urban core, the network approach can save crucial minutes in the “door-in, door-out” time and provide the best and fastest stroke care. Care can come through injection of a clot-dissolving drug tissue plasminogen activator, known as tPA, or a surgical procedure to remove the clot called a thrombectomy.
Mayfield vascular neurosurgeons serve stroke patients at TriHealth’s Good Samaritan Hospital in Clifton and Bethesda North Hospital in Montgomery, The Jewish Hospital-Mercy Health in Kenwood and St. Elizabeth in Edgewood. Good Samaritan Hospital has been designated a Comprehensive Stroke Center by The Joint Commission, able to host the full portfolio of stroke treatment and intervention. Neurosurgeons at The Jewish Hospital are able to perform thrombectomy procedures with the “Thrombectomy-Ready” certification, and TriHealth’s Bethesda North Hospital is pursuing the same designation. In 2019, Mayfield and St. Elizabeth Healthcare announced an expansion of their clinical partnership to provide more complex interventional stroke and brain tumor services in Northern Kentucky, including pursing certification as a Primary Stroke Center where doctors can provide tPA and support care.
“Mayfield’s rich history of innovation and collaboration to improve our patients’ lives continues with the development of leading endovascular stroke centers,” said vascular neurosurgeon Dr. Andrew Ringer, Mayfield chairman and co-founder of the Endovascular Neurosurgery Research Group (ENRG), a national research consortium. “We are proud to partner with the region’s leading health systems to enhance care. Treatment of strokes has evolved during the last decade to expand the window of time for aggressive intervention once symptoms begin, and we look forward to leading additional innovations in the years ahead.”
Every year, nearly 800,000 Americans die from strokes, one every four minutes and roughly the population of North Dakota.
Mayfield specialists also are engaged in emerging research that could further transform stroke care in the years to come: partnerships to develop robotic capabilities to perform the stroke interventions remotely, a capability not yet available to patients.