Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center's (DHMC) stroke team provides expert care for patients throughout northern New England. In addition to caring for acute stroke, the team offers unique neurology services dedicated to supporting community hospitals, preventing recurrent strokes, and advancing the field of stroke care.
Supporting community hospitals through
tele-neurology
Through its Tele-神经学 service, the DHMC neurology team assists emergency physicians at 15 community hospitals throughout northern New England in the diagnosis and treatment of all types of acute neurological conditions, 包括中风, 癫痫发作, 面部麻痹, 头晕等等.
"Many hospitals in our rural area do not have general neurology providers, and there is a shortage of EMS providers to transport patients with stroke or other neurological conditions to large regional medical centers where emergency neurology care is available,” Timothy G. 马里兰州Lukovits, medical director of the Cerebrovascular Disease and 中风 Program at DHMC. "Tele-stroke programs have been around for years, but through our Tele-神经学 program, we're doing more than just caring for patients with strokes — we're filling a gap in neurological care at local hospitals by consulting on patients that present to the Emergency Department with any neurological condition and connecting them to our in-person neurology clinic for follow-up."
A multidisciplinary approach to stroke prevention
In addition to providing acute care for stroke and other neurological conditions, DHMC experts take a multidisciplinary approach to stroke prevention for patients with conditions such as atrial fibrillation, 卵圆孔未闭, carotid artery stenosis, cerebral aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations.
"Our neurologists work collaboratively with cardiologists, 血管外科医生, neurosurgeons and neuroradiologists to match the right patient with the most appropriate treatment at the right time,”医生说。. Lukovits. "We have weekly cerebrovascular and monthly vascular surgery and cardiology conferences where we discuss appropriate interventions for each patient, allowing them to receive consensus-based recommendations from a team of medical specialists."
病人 who require treatment have access to some of the latest catheter-based interventions to prevent stroke, including left-atrial appendage closure, 卵圆孔未闭关闭, transcarotid artery revascularization (TCAR) and aneurysm coiling.
Advancing stroke care through clinical research
DHMC is participating in innovative clinical trials that promise to pave the way for a greater understanding of which stroke treatments are most effective for specific patients, 风险概况, 还有描边类型. Clinical trials include:
- Neuro-AFib研究, looking at patients who have atrial fibrillation and either an ischemic stroke or hemorrhagic stroke, who also may have cerebral amyloid angiopathy - a condition that predisposes people to dementia and hemorrhagic strokes.
- OCEANIC-STROKE study, testing whether an investigational anti-coagulant asundexian is effective in preventing future strokes without causing excessive bleeding.
- Zeit Alert for 中风 at 十大网赌平台推荐 (ZASH) Protocol, looking at whether an EEG headband worn at home can detect recurrent stroke in select high-risk patients.
Additionally, DHMC has been selected to participate in the 中风Net 研究网络.
"Our 中风Net network participation will allow our team to more efficiently set up studies and open up more opportunities for NIH-funded research,”医生说。. Lukovits. “进一步, our participation will improve geographic diversity in clinical trials and expand access to promising treatments for rural patients."