Coordinated Stroke Therapy

The Hadassah stroke center offers coordinated care for stroke patients.

We first establish an accurate diagnosis of ischemic stroke or brain hemorrhage by combining the symptoms and signs and our clinical skills with the use of highly sophisticated imaging tools including diffusion and perfusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), FLAIR MRI, gradient echo MRI to detect blood in the brain and MR angiography and CT angiography to establish the exact location of vessel occlusion.

In the acute setting we offer comprehensive stroke care including the administration of thrombolytic drugs intravenously and intra-arterially in appropriate patients. We also offer different endovascular therapy options including mechanical clot retrievers and stent placement.

Patients are admitted to the Department of Neurology at Hadassah and taken care of by a team of seasoned vascular neurologists headed by Dr. Ronen R. Leker. During the acute admission the cause of stroke is evaluated and appropriate medical treatment for secondary prevention of another stroke or hemorrhage is started. Patients begin their rehabilitation efforts in our department and are later transferred to a rehabilitation facility at Mt. Scopus Hadassah Campus where they are taken care of by a team of physicians that are experienced in stroke rehabilitation headed by Dr. Zeev Meiner.

In the chronic post stroke patients we offer comprehensive multi-disciplinary team evaluations of the cause of stroke and secondary prevention therapy tailored for each individual patient. Our team consists of experts in vascular neurology, hematology and thrombosis, cardiology, vascular surgery and endovascular neurosurgery. Each case is discussed in a multi-disciplinary environment and therapeutic decisions are made for each individual patient. Specifically, patients are referred for vascular surgery (e.g. to open a stenosis in the carotid artery – carotid endarterectomy), endovascular therapy (e.g. to place a stent and open a narrowed [stenotic] symptomatic basilar artery) or are treated medically (e.g. with appropriate drugs) according to the relevant findings in each case.

Post procedural care is also monitored by our entire team to promise a swift delivery of maximal care to prevent further events.