FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JULY 4, 2019 • HEALTH • THE QUEENS COURIER 25
health
Mount Sinai Queens unveils new
innovative Cerebrovascular Stroke Center
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Standing in front of a glittering new
CT scanner, Danny Hom, a cardiovascular
neurologist, described the path that a
patient suff ering a stroke would make in
Mount Sinai Queens’ new hybrid stroke
center.
Th e patient would lie on a table
designed to slide into the scanner. Aft er
the scan, the platform would then spin
around 180 degrees to function as a surgical
table for a thrombectomy, a procedure
that removes blood clots from the
brain and quickly restores blood fl ow.
Hom said this streamlined process
allowed the doctors to reduce what is
usually a 30-to-45-minute process into
30 seconds. Th e center’s goal is to get the
total procedure time down to 15 minutes.
“In a stroke, time is brain,” Hom said.
“Every second that passes you lose a certain
amount of neurons.”
Th e new hybrid thrombectomy room is
the crown jewel of Mount Sinai Queens’
new state-of-the-art Cerebrovascular
Stroke Center, which the hospital
unveiled with a special ceremony on
Wednesday. Astoria Councilman Costa
Constantinides, Commissioner of the
State Department of Health Howard
Zucker, and members of the Mount Sinai
administration and board joined to cut
the ribbon for the new facility.
Th e new stroke center’s thrombectomy–
capable room is the fi rst of its kind
in the U.S. and was custom–designed
to provide treatment for people experiencing
one of the most hazardous form
of stroke, large vessel occlusion (LVO)
strokes.
“We believe this stroke center will not
only improve care in the borough of
Queens, but will also provide the foundation
for groundbreaking research that
will enhance the knowledge of stroke care
globally,” said Zucker.
In a thrombectomy procedure, a highly
specialized neuroendovascular surgeon
threads a catheter through an artery in
the groin or wrist to the patient’s brain in
order to remove the clot. Th e procedure
aims to bust blood clots in the most effi -
cient way possible.
“Th at makes the diff erence between
bedridden for the rest of your life and
walking out of here like normal,” said
Hom.
Commissioner Zucker added that he
sees this form of treatment as the future
of stroke care. In March, Zucker a plan
aimed at updating New York state’s hospitals
to a three-tiered stroke system
that aims to treat more complex cases.
He added that New York has the second
lowest stroke mortality rate in the nation
based on data from 2018.
“Why do we have this center in Queens?
Th e answer is community New York State
is leading the national community in
how the Department of Health addresses
stroke care,” said Dr. J Mocco, the director
of the Cerebrovascular Center for the
Mount Sinai Health System.
Max Parrott/QNS
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