Top in neurovascular care

Baptist and Lyerly receive top quality awards on largest stroke intervention study in history

When it comes to how quickly patients receive stroke treatment, Baptist Health far exceeds the average.

Baptist Health and Lyerly Neurosurgery received two national awards for quality landmarks on acute stroke intervention compared to 54 other sites throughout the country.

Medtronic honored Baptist and Lyerly with Systems of Care Recognition Awards at the International Stroke Conference in Houston on Feb. 22.

The awards were based on a study called STRATIS which involved 1,000 patients with acute ischemic stroke at 55 sites. The study compared clinical outcomes associated with Medtronic’s Solitaire™ device to restore blood flow in patients with large vessel blockage.

Baptist/Lyerly neurovascular surgeons and the stroke team were able to intervene and remove the blockage about 50 percent faster than the study average. The time includes arrival in the emergency department, CT scans, clot busting medication (when needed), moving to an operating suite and removing the clot.

In terms of time taken from arrival in the emergency room to the start of the procedure, the Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville team did even better at nearly twice as fast as the gold standard.

"With a stroke, time is of the essence, and every minute counts towards better odds of recovering," said Ricardo A. Hanel, neurovascular surgeon and director of the Baptist Neurological Institute. "This is a huge compliment to all our efforts to continue to provide the best stroke care in the northeast Florida and southeast Georgia community and continue to be among the top stroke centers in the country. Stroke intervention time stamps are a testimony to our team’s expertise and dedication to acute stroke care."

For more information go to Lyerly Neurosurgery.