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According to the American Stroke Association, stroke is the leading cause
of neurological disability and the second leading cause of death worldwide.
Approximately 85% of all strokes are due to sudden blockage in an artery
causing loss of blood flow to the brain. Permanent brain damage is
possible after only a few minutes of oxygen deprivation, causing disabling
physical symptoms like sudden onset of numbness or weakness in the
face, arm, or leg on one side of the body, confusion, difficulty seeing,
impaired walking and severe headache.
One in six people in the U.S. will have a stroke in their lifetime leading to in
close to a million strokes a year in the country and more than 13 million
strokes per year worldwide. May is stroke awareness month to educate
people to recognize symptoms of a stroke so that emergency medical
services are called immediately and powerful modern treatments to reverse
permanent disability and save lives can be applied within the first few hours
of stroke symptoms.
Stroke used to be considered a disease of the aging population. However,
the prevalence of stroke in young and middle-aged adults is on the rise due
to an increase in obesity and diabetes mellitus.
According to Dr. Dileep Yavagal, Miami-based Professor of Clinical
Neurology and Neurosurgery and Director of Interventional Neurology at
University of Miami and Jackson Memorial Hospitals, there is hope for
stroke victims through the use of an effective medical intervention called
mechanical thrombectomy which can be applied up to 24 hours from
beginning of stroke symptoms. Since 2015, mechanical thrombectomy, an
emergency surgery performed in an angiography suite, is the new standard
of care for acute treatment of moderate to severe stroke.
“Thrombectomy is a minimally invasive procedure whereby a catheter is
inserted at the groin, and we’re able to remove the blood clot that is
suddenly blocking blood flow in a large artery in the brain,” reversing the effects of stroke,” says Dr. Yavagal.
“What is critical is that the thrombectomy be performed within 24 hours of stroke symptoms.” Dr. Yavagal has performed hundreds of successful thrombectomies. In
some cases, the patient sat up and began talking to him immediately
following the procedure.“It can be a remarkable and life-changing procedure,” he explains. “The challenge is that despite the massive benefit and cost-effectiveness, as of
2020, a stroke patient will have the mechanical thrombectomy only 30% of
the time in the U.S. and less than three percent globally, depending on
when and where they have their strokes.”
Mission Thrombectomy
Mission Thrombectomy is a global non-profit campaign founded in 2016
and chaired by Dr. Yavagal with a mission of accelerating access to
thrombectomy throughout the world and increasing public awareness of
stroke symptoms. The campaign aims to achieve its goals with the help of
public health interventions: advocacy, population level education and
innovation in emergency stroke care delivery and by sharing best practices
for stroke thrombectomy systems of care around the world.
“Since its founding in 2016, Mission Thrombectomy has grown its public
health and advocacy network in over 90 countries with formation of regional
committees that are working on the ground in each of these countries to
decrease the massive inequity in access to thrombectomy between high
and low-income countries and to underserved stroke patients everywhere,”
says Dr. Yavagal.
Thrombectomy has been shown to be cost-effective despite being
resource-intensive across different income-level countries. The challenge is
having the right equipment and trained medical staff on hand 24/7 and
systems in place to rapidly triage the severe acute stroke patient to a
thrombectomy-capable stroke center when a stroke occurs. Mission
Thrombectomy is working hard to ensure that everyone who has a stroke
will have a fighting chance through thrombectomy.
More information, please visit www.missionthrombectomy.com.
