This past Saturday, Passaic resident Ana U. came into the Emergency Room at St. Mary’s General Hospital unable to speak or move the left side of her body, both symptoms of a stroke. With a stroke, time is precious. Up to 1.9 million brain cells die every minute.
In a recent expansion of Neurological services, St. Mary’s General Hospital, along with Prime Healthcare New Jersey hospitals, now offer the latest, state-of-the-art minimally invasive treatment for a stroke. Using a new artificial intelligence-based technology, our patient’s brain scan was viewed in real-time by Dr. Jeffrey Farkas, one of the most experienced neurointerventional surgeons and interventional neuroradiologists in the Northeast. Within minutes, Ana was transported to the Cardiac Cath Lab at St. Mary’s General where Dr. Farkas successfully completed Prime Healthcare NJ’s first emergent cerebral thrombectomy, manually removing a blood clot to restore blood flow to the brain. After just a few hours, Ana was speaking and able to move all extremities.
Previously patients like Ana would have been transferred to another hospital for stroke intervention, but now with Prime Healthcare NJ’s new stroke technology, St. Mary’s General, along with our sister hospitals: Saint Clares Health and Saint Michael’s Medical Center, are able to provide the latest neurological technology to serve our community.