Stroke Procedures
Diagnostic Cerebral Angiogram
This test makes X-ray images of blood vessels in your brain. During the test, the healthcare provider puts a long, thin, flexible tube (catheter) into a blood vessel and moves it to the brain. He or she uses a special contrast fluid to make the blood vessels in the brain show up on the X-rays. This test is also called arteriography.
Rapid Artificial Intelligence CT Perfusion Scanning
A brain perfusion scan is a type of brain test that shows the amount of blood taken up in certain areas of your brain. This can provide information on how your brain is functioning. Profusion scanning allows physicians to perform real-time evaluation of the brain to identify areas at risk for irreversible damage. This also allows our physicians to determine which patients are candidates for surgery on a clogged vessel.
Stroke Thrombectomy
Endovascular minimally-invasive thrombectomy is a type of surgery to remove a blood clot from inside an artery or vein.
Normally, blood flows freely through your blood vessels, arteries, and veins. Your arteries carry blood with oxygen and nutrients to your body. Your veins carry waste products back to the heart. In some cases, the blood thickens and clumps to form a blood clot in one of these vessels. This can block the blood flow. When blood flow is blocked, nearby tissues can be damaged.
During a minimally-invasive surgical thrombectomy, your surgeon uses a catheter in the wrist or groin artery to access vessels of the brain. These catheters allow safe removal of the clot under x-ray.
Aneurysm Clipping
An aneurysm is a weakened area in the wall of an artery. If an aneurysm breaks open (ruptures), it can cause life-threatening bleeding and brain damage. Preventing blood flow into an aneurysm helps to keep it from rupturing.
Your surgeon may put a clip on your aneurysm where it bulges from the artery. This keeps blood from going into the aneurysm. As a result, future bleeding is stopped and nearby brain tissue is protected from more damage. Your surgeon makes sure that the clip is secure before finishing the surgery. This method is done through open surgery.
Aneurysm Coiling
Endovascular coiling or specialized stents block blood flow into an aneurysm. This procedure is also called endovascular embolization.
For endovascular coiling, the healthcare provider inserts a long, thin tube (catheter) into a groin artery. The provider moves the catheter into the affected brain artery and puts the coil in place. X-rays help guide the catheter into the artery. The coils are made of soft platinum metal and are shaped like a spring. The coils are very small and thin. They range in size from about twice the width of a human hair to less than one hair's width. Sometimes coils are used with stents to prevent coils from moving out of the aneurysm.
Your neurovascular specialist can help you decide whether aneurysm coiling or clipping is right for you.
Embolization
Embolization is a procedure to block a blood vessel. It is done to stop severe bleeding or to stop blood flow to a part of the body. To do this, a thin, flexible tube called a catheter is put into the specific blood vessel that needs to be blocked. Initially, this would be done after going into a peripheral artery or vein in your arm or groin. It is often done by a healthcare provider called an interventional radiologist. This procedure may be done alone, or before or after surgery or other treatment.
The procedure may be done to:
- Control bleeding in an emergency for head and neck bleeds and cerebral bleeds
- Block blood flow to a cancerous tumor
- Treat arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) in the head and spine
- Treat subdural hematoma through middle meningeal arterial (MMA) embolization
- Treat epistaxis (nosebleeds) that will not stop using routine first aid
Venogram with Pressure Monitoring
A venogram is a test that lets your healthcare provider see the veins and sinuses in your head and how they drain. This is a minimally-invasive procedure that can also measure the pressure in your head for certain types of headaches. A special dye is injected that can be seen on an X-ray. A pressure monitor lets your provider measure the pressure within your head.