Large Hospitals Excel at Stroke Prevention

By: Deanna Morey - Published:  Feb 7, 2012 08:34 pm: (dailyRx)

Technology and procedures to treat unruptured brain aneurysms, which can lead to hemorrhagic stroke caused by cranial bleeding, have improved significantly in the last decade.

Treatment outcomes have not improved with the technology, however, suggesting that higher numbers of procedures performed at smaller community hospitals are producing inferior results. Larger hospitals appear to offer an edge in treatment.

A common minimally invasive treatment for an unruptured brain aneurysm is called endoscopic coiling in which a surgeon inserts a catheter into the thigh’s femoral artery. The catheter is guided to the location of the aneurysm, which is then packed with either platinum coils or balloons to prevent blood flow to the area.

Dr. Robert A. Solomon, study co-author, neurosurgeon-in-chief at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical and the Byron StookeyProfessor of Neurological Surgery, and chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, said the problem is not the technology, but the way it is delivered. Read Full Article