Major Milestone
December 10, 2019
Making it to 101 years old is a significant milestone. It's even more significant for Pennsylvania woman Loretta Schade.
Schade, who attributes her longevity to her "tenacious" attitude, can also attribute her reaching her 101st birthday to modern medicine and a fast-thinking surgical team.
Just over a week before she was going to blow out the candles, Schade began showing signs that she had suffered a stroke.
Unfortunately, she was past the time frame in which "clot-busting" drugs could help prevent further damage, so to help save her life, doctors had to perform surgery.
Schade's doctors not only had to perform surgery to remove the clot that was blocking blood and oxygen flow to her brain, but they were also working on the oldest brain they had ever encountered.
But, with advances in medicine and state-of-the-art neuroimaging and diagnostics, Schade's doctors were confident they could successfully treat her.
Using "telestroke" technology-advanced imaging of Schade's blood vessels, doctors were able to locate the blood clot responsible for the stroke and successfully remove it through a catheter.
Researchers estimate that around 25 percent of the world's population over the age of 25 will experience a stroke in their lifetime. In the United States, that rate is between 23 and 29 percent.
Treating a stroke depends on if the stroke is ischemic, in which a clot blocks the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain, or hemorrhagic, in which bleeding on the brain occurs.
Early intervention for an ischemic stroke often includes emergency IV medication to break up blood clots to reduce the risk of complications, drugs delivered directly to the brain to help eliminate the clot, and removing the clot with a device known as a stent retriever.
Treating hemorrhagic stroke involves controlling the bleeding and reducing the buildup of pressure on the brain caused by excess blood.
This can be done by taking blood-thinning medications to help prevent blood clots, using drugs to lower the pressure in your brain, or surgery if the bleeding is significant or in a large area. Surgery may also be necessary in the case of an aneurysm, arteriovenous malformation (AVM) or any other type of blood vessel problem condition at the root of a hemorrhagic stroke.
"Treating a stroke with surgery or any other method involving going into the brain is serious," said Dr. Faisal R. Jahangiri of AXIS Neuromonitoring in Richardson, Texas.
This is why AXIS is helping surgeons take extra steps to help reduce the risks of brain procedures for strokes and other conditions by adding an extra layer of patient care in the operating room.
"We help to give surgeons an extra set of eyes - literally - in the OR," Jahangiri said.
The new eyes belong to AXIS technologists who are watching for changes in the patient during the procedure. When changes are noted, the surgeon is immediately notified so as not to do further damage to the brain.
"The goal of procedures to treat stroke is to relieve pressure and reduce damage to the brain caused by stroke, and not do damage to the brain that could leave the patient with lifelong negative side effects," Jahangiri said.
Adverse side effects from brain procedures can impact speaking, cognition and movement.
"These are things that patients would have to manage for the rest of their lives and would require costly care," Jahangiri.
Source: Making a Difference | Woman celebrates 101st birthday thanks to life-saving brain surgery. 22 November 2019.
