Ischemic Stroke

Gary Clauser, M.D.
Neurology

THE PATIENT:

• 79-year-old male
• Experienced slurred speech and trouble using his left arm
• His wife dialed 9-1-1.

THE REFERRAL:

• Patient and his wife asked for transport to Lehigh Valley Hospital–Muhlenberg, a Joint Commission-certified Primary Stroke Center.

THE WORK-UP:

• Neurologist Gary Clauser, M.D., emergency department physician Jennifer Zambo, D.O., and emergency medicine resident Traci Anselmo, D.O., collaborated on the case.
• Diagnosis of exact location of blocked blood vessel determined

THE TREATMENT:

• Clot-busting medication tPA administered within 79 minutes of the start of treatment via a catheter directly into the blood clot.
• This lifesaving therapy is done in only about 20 medical centers nationwide.
• Lehigh Valley Hospital has the only program in the region that can treat stroke patients with tPA any time of the day or night.
• 100 percent of eligible patients arriving at LVHHN less than three hours after stroke onset are treated with tPA.

THE PROGNOSIS:

• Patient was able to walk with his nurse’s help the next day.
• Patient was discharged four days later.
• Patient was completely recovered three months after event.

THE TEAM:

• Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest and Lehigh Valley Hospital–Muhlenberg are the only two certified Primary Stroke Centers in the region.
• LVHHN’s Stroke Center is the only area program that offers neurointerventional treatment of acute stroke, including advanced radiological technology.
• LVHHN leads the region in using the American Stroke Association’s “Get With the Guidelines” stroke patient management tool.
• The team of extensively educated experts includes neurologists, neurosurgeons, neurointerventional radiologists, specially educated nurses, critical care intensivists, vascular surgeons, cardiologists, physiatrists, social workers, support services, occupational, physical and speech therapists, and others.

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