Mich. woman saved by new technology at UTMC - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

Mich. woman saved by new technology at UTMC

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An amazing story of survival that involves a woman from Michigan and new technology at the University of Toledo Medical Center. What started with a trip to the Toledo Zoo, ended with a lifesaving trip to UTMC for Maria Scislo. Her husband Tadeusz feels that a higher power put them in Toledo that day, "We felt that we were pulled to the Toledo Zoo by some higher force so that this could happen so close to a hospital."

The Scislos live near Detroit and they are both neuro scientists at Wayne State University. Before coming to America he was a neurologist in their native Poland, "I think he was more affected than me, so nervous, so afraid."

As they watched the gorillas at the zoo, Maria had severe stroke symptoms. She was rushed to UTMC where doctors used technology called a biplane to reverse the stroke. In simple terms the machine allows doctors to look at blood vessels in the brain in great detail, "As we access the artery in the groin we can track catheters to the artery in the brain. We find the blockage and we use devices approved by the FDA to re-open blood vessels."

Dr. Zaidi is an Interventional Neurologist. He is one of the few using this technology around the country, "It is not available in most hospitals across the country. In fact it is probably being used in fewer than one percent right now. These are sophisticated, high risk procedures but for a patient with persistent blockage it is the only hope they really have."

Other than what Maria calls minor symptoms, she is getting around just fine. The scislos say it's all thanks to the technology and the staff here at UTMC, "I would like to say a special thank you to the doctors. I know what they saved me from, I could be in a wheelchair. I am so grateful I can't express it."

Friday is Maria's 64th birthday and next week she and her husband will travel back to Poland for the holidays. She had her stroke symptoms the end of September and they began using the biplane technology at UTMC in July.

Getting help quickly is the key when it comes to strokes. Symptoms can include sudden numbness or weakness in the face, sudden confusion, trouble speaking dizziness and loss of balance.

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