HARLINGEN — Stroke patients are now returning home safe in greater numbers.
They have been returning home in greater numbers since 2012, and now Valley Baptist Medical Center has reached the milestone of 14,000 stroke cases.
“It’s incredibly humbling,” said Dr. Ameer Hassan, head of the neuroscience department at Valley Baptist. “This milestone represents more than a number. It tells the story of transformation in a community that once had little access to advanced stroke care.”
When Hassan arrived at Valley Baptist in 2012, many patients had to travel several hours to receive treatment, and often it was too late for a favorable outcome.
“Today, people in the Rio Grande Valley receive the same level of care as patients in major academic centers in any major city in the U.S.,” he said.
Hassan and the rest of Valley Baptist are happy they have treated so many patients who have returned home after treatment. However, there is more to success in stroke treatment than mere survival. An increasing number of stroke survivors are returning home healthy and whole, with little or no impairment commonly associated with stroke.
“We’ve seen remarkable improvements in survival and recovery,” Hassan said. “Our door-to-treatment times for thrombectomy are among the fastest in the country.”
The Cleveland Clinic says a thrombectomy is a surgery to remove a blood clot from an artery or vein. The procedure helps restore blood flow to vital organs. Mechanical thrombectomy is a minimally invasive procedure to remove blood clots from the brain using catheters and endovascular tools.
Hassan said that at this current time at Valley Baptist, about 55% to 60% of patients who undergo mechanical thrombectomy are discharged home or to rehab with good functional outcomes. Before these and other advanced therapies were available locally, less than 25% of stroke patients had good functional outcomes.
“Stroke mortality and long-term disability have decreased by over 50% in the past decade,” he said.
Hassan gave special mention to several other key factors which contributed to the improvements in local stroke care.
One such factor was the establishment of the first Comprehensive Stroke Center in the Rio Grande Valley at Valley Baptist. Another was the creation of a dedicated 24/7 neuro-endovascular team first with Dr. Wondwossen Tekle and now also with Dr. Muhammad Waqas Kahn.
The Valley Baptist stroke treatment program has also created the “world’s first Hub and Spoke model” integrating AI-powered imaging and mobile stroke alert systems with Viz.ai, which sped up diagnosis and treatment and significantly decreased transfer times.
Stroke care has become something of a family mission, Hassan said.
“My wife, Summer, has grown the Stroke Research and Education Foundation (SREF) into a thriving organization, hosting our annual two-day South Texas Comprehensive Stroke Symposium on South Padre Island that draws the world’s leading stroke and endovascular experts,” he said. “Our Red Ball event continues to grow each year, with all proceeds funding public stroke education, like the billboards and airport displays you see around the Valley in English and Spanish, reminding everyone that recognizing stroke symptoms quickly can save lives.”
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