New Stroke Strategies

Innovative ‘clot retriever’ saves local man’s life

‘I was floored!’—Brian Miller (right), a healthy 36-year-old who enjoys landscaping and four-wheeling, never dreamed he’d have a stroke. Quick action by his colleagues, including general manager Alan Landis, and an innovative treatment saved his life.

The new suction approach— Penumbra gently suctions the clot out of a stroke patient’s blood vessel.

The mini-corkscrew approach—Other devices are navigated through the clot, then mechanically pulled out.

Brian Miller, 36, of Whitehall, Pa., can thank his co-workers at Paul’s Hardware and Garden Center in Orefield, Pa., for doing the right thing when he felt dizzy one day last fall. They urged him to take it easy—and when he collapsed later that day, they promptly called 9-1-1.

The ambulance rushed Miller to Lehigh Valley Hospital—Cedar Crest, where the Regional Primary Stroke Center team quickly diagnosed an ischemic stroke. This happens when a blood vessel carrying oxygen to the brain is blocked by a clot. To prevent damage to Miller’s brain cells, which would begin to die if starved of oxygen, neurointerventional radiologist Darryn Shaff, M.D., and his colleagues had an exciting new option: a technology called Penumbra. The device gently suctions clots out of blood vessels, restoring blood flow to the brain. It’s slightly less invasive than other clot-retrieval devices that need to be navigated all the way through a clot and then mechanically pulled out (see illustration).

Clot-busting drugs like tPA are still the first treatment choice for strokes. But they are most effective if used within three hours of the onset of stroke symptoms.

“Brian was a good candidate for Penumbra and he did beautifully,” Shaff says. It was all a surprise to Miller. “I was shocked when I woke up after surgery and was told I’d had a stroke,” he says. “I don’t have high blood pressure or a family history of stroke—I was absolutely floored.”

The stroke didn’t slow him down for long. “I was out of bed the next day and pretty much myself right away,” he says. He returned to work the following week and is now taking a prescription drug to prevent additional clots from forming. “In a way it’s like it never happened,” he says. “It was a blip on my radar, and I’ve returned to my life.”

Want to Know More about how to recognize stroke symptoms? Call 610-402-CARE.

Published from Healthy You Magazine, May June 2009

This page last updated 12/17/09 04:25 PM