MDNews - Long Island

" The Stroke & Brain Aneurysm Center has been a great success thus far. In the first three months of the program, we performed over 120 procedures. Around 40 percent dealt with brain aneurysms, another 40 percent with ischemic strokes, and the remaining dealt with issues like carotid disease and intractable nose bleeds." KIMON BEKELIS, MD, DIRECTOR OF THE STROKE & BRAIN ANEURYSM CENTER AT GOOD SAMARITAN HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER, CHAIR OF NEURO• INTERVENTIONAL SERVICES AT CATHOLIC HEALTH SERVICES AND DIRECTOR OF THE POPULATION HEALTH RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF NEW YORK AT CATHOLIC HEALTH SERVICES " We still clip a neur ysms, but instead of opening up the skull, we ca n thread a catheter through the groin a nd inser t coils to clot off the a neur ysm." Rather than the leng thy hospita l stay a ssociated w ith cra niotomy, patients receiving endova scula r treatment for bra i n a neu r ysm s ca n leave a f ter a n overnight visit with nothing more tha n a sma ll incision in their g roin. " T h e s e t e c h n i q u e s h a v e b e e n av a i l a ble for m a ny yea r s , but t hei r i n d ic a t ion s a n d a ppl ic a t ion s h a v e expanded dramatica lly, thanks to tech- nolog y," says Kevin Mullins, MD, FACS, FA A NS , Ch a i r of t he Neu roscience Ser vice Line, Catholic Hea lth Ser vices a nd Ch ief of Neu rosu rger y at G ood S a m a r it a n . " T h e s e a d v a n c e m e nt s a llowed us to create the Stroke & Bra in A neur ysm Center." THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB T he creat ion of t he S t roke & Bra i n A neur ysm Center at Good Sa ma rita n b e g a n lon g b e for e it op e n e d , w it h Dr. Mullins initiating and overseeing a ll aspects of its development. An extended planning period preceded the program's successful launch in September 2017. "There were approximately three years of prepa r at ion t o s et up t he c ent er a nd t he prog ra m ," Dr. Mu l li ns says. " Beyond receiv ing approva l from the state of New York a nd coming up with the a rchitectura l pla ns, we needed to choose the right equipment a nd build the right tea m." A mong the most impor ta nt pieces of equipment procured for the Stroke & Brain Aneurysm Center are a 512-speed low- dose CT sca n ner a nd a bipla ne a n g i o g r a p h y s y s t e m . T h e bi p l a n e a n g io g r a phy s y s t em w a s i n c or p o - rated into its ow n specia lly outf it ted room — where neu roi nt er vent iona l procedures ta ke place — shor tly before t he c ent er 's open i n g . Toget her, t he CT sca nner a nd bipla ne a ng iog raphy system a llow Dr. Bekelis a nd his tea m to deter m i ne t he proper ca nd idates for neu roi nter ventiona l procedu res a nd per for m t reat ment s t hat wou ld be dif f icult or impossible using other imag ing methods. " Not hav ing a bipla ne machine is a sig nif ica nt impediment to performing t hese procedu res," Dr. Bekel is says. " The bra in ha s complex va scu lature, so we need det a i led 3 -D i ma g i n g i n order to properly see the blood vessels a nd direct our catheters to the affected Good Samaritan's Imaging Services Department features Long Island's only Revolution 512-Speed CT Scanner (one of only two in New York state), enabling clinicians to deliver uncompromised image quality for some of the most challenging clinical applications. 0 8C O V E R F E A T U R E 0 8

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