Capital Health offers Joint Commission accredited stroke programs at both its Trenton and Hopewell Township hospitals.
Time is critical in the treatment of stroke. With early intervention, our stroke team can safeguard the quality of your life after stroke, but a lot depends on how fast you get treatment.
Among the critical pieces offered for rapid diagnosis as part of Capital Health’s Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center:
- Advanced diagnostics including computed tomography (CT scan), CT perfusion, CT angiography and MRI available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Pre-Hospital Stroke Alert. When a patient suspected of having a stroke is being brought to our hospital, our EMS team is trained to initiate a stroke alert from the field, which allows patients to bypass triage and go directly to CT Scan to meet our team, saving valuable time. tPA (a clot busting medication) times are faster with pre-hospital stroke alert than without, which equates to faster, more efficient treatment. (The neurological emergency room and pre-hospital stroke alert: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Neurosurgery. 2014 Mar;74(3):281-5)
- 24/7 access to a stroke team dedicated to quick diagnosis and rapid intervention
- Patients who require admission to our hospital are admitted to either our dedicated Neuro Intensive Care Unit or a neurological unit, depending on the severity of their illness.
At Capital Health, treatment using clot busting medications can be given to limit or even eliminate disabilities associated with a stroke if a person receives treatment within three hours of the onset of symptoms and meets certain criteria. tPA, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1996, is used in cases of acute ischemic stroke, the most common form of stroke. tPA can dissolve the blockage and restore cerebral blood flow.
Capital Health also offers neuroendovascular interventions, in our dedicated suite, for appropriate patients. This can include retrieval of the blood clot that is blocking the flow of blood using minimally invasive techniques.
Time is brain and every minute counts!
It is a well-documented fact that hospitals with a dedicated stroke program have better outcomes and shorter hospital stays for patients.