New Stroke Network at UTMC - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

There's new cutting-edge technology here in Toledo when it comes to potentially life-saving treatment for stroke. We take you inside the University of Toledo Medical Center for the story.

The 1.6 million dollar machine will change the way Toledo doctors treat stroke patients. It's a special X-ray machine that gives them such a good view of the brain that they can pinpoint the location of a stroke, go in and go after the clot or the area of bleeding. 

"We are able to go in typically through the patients groin all the way to the arteries supplying the brain," says Dr. Syed Zaidi. "We can visually see where the clot is in the blood vessel in the brain and try to open up the artery."

Dr. Syed Zaidi and Dr. Mouhammad Jumaa are now on faculty at UTMC. Both are vascular and interventional neurologists. They're trained in this technology which works much like a cardiac catheterization, except they focus on the brain, not the heart.

"If you get up there and take the clot out on time then there's a very good chance that there will not be significant brain damage," says Dr. Jumaa.

Dr. Gretchen Tietjen heads the Neurology Department at UTMC. She says the technology will allow them to better target clots with the clot-busting drug known as TPA. 

"But, also some other procedures such as sucking out the clot, sort of getting a little corkscrew into it and pulling out the clot, putting a stent into the artery," says Dr. Tietjen. 

Hospital officials say UTMC has been a primary stroke center for 15 years but a small number of patients had to be referred out of the Toledo area for treatment. They say this technology and these doctors will change that. 

"They will allow us to deliver comprehensive stroke care," says Dr. Jeffrey Gold, Chancellor and Executive Vice President for Biosciences and Health Affairs. "...Stroke care where we would never have to refer anybody and people would be referred to us from across the region, and hopefully from across the country for care."

The biplane X-ray machine was put into operation this morning, with the very first patient scheduled for about an hour after this morning's ribbon-cutting.