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Stroke Rehabilitation And Future Advancements In the Field Stroke Rehabilitation And Future Advancements In The Field

What the Future Holds for Stroke Treatment and Rehab

By Sam Oppenheim

The CT Scan room that stroke patients are first taken to at Upstate Hospital. Program manager of the Upstate Comprehensive Stroke Center Dr. Josh Onyan says the scan takes just a minute.
© 2019 Sam Oppenheim

In the past three weeks, actor Luke Perry died from a stroke and Syracuse basketball guard Howard Washington admitted he suffered one last fall. But how common are strokes in Central New York? Upstate Stroke Program Manager Dr. Josh Onyan says they saw 2,000 patients last year and diagnosed 900. He says a simple acronym can help people remember the signs.

“‘F.A.S.T’, Is your facing drooping? F. Are your arms or leg weak? A. Is your speech slurred? S. And T, time to call 9-11. So if you think stroke think FAST is what we say.”

Still, Assistant Professor of Neurology Dr. Hesham Masoud says the signs don’t always line up.

“You’ll see that certain markers, like I can lift my arm up, that’s no problem, but the hand. I can’t move the hand at all. And that’s because the clot or the stroke is in the area of the brain that controls the hand only.”

Doctors says its best to identify the problem early as possible. Sam Oppenheim, N-C-C News.

By Sam Oppenheim, SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC NEWS) — In the ever-changing world we live in, no area of treatment may have advanced as much as strokes. The Upstate Medical Center made it a priority, and put together the initial Upstate Comprehensive Stroke Center in the mid-2000s. Now, they are certified to treat all types of strokes.

Last year, the hospital saw roughly 2,000 patients for stroke-related issues and about 900 were diagnosed. Dr. Josh Onyan, the manager of the stroke program at Upstate, laid out just how much the treatment has changed.

“30 years ago if you had a stroke, you went to the emergency room and that was it,” said Onyan. “They couldn’t do much for it.”

Operating table at Upstate Medical that can be used for patients suffering a stroke
Operating table at Upstate Medical that can be used for patients suffering a stroke
© 2019 Sam Oppenheim

But times have changed, and the technology has advanced. The operating table seen on the right takes photos of the patient from above, below, left and right, and puts together a stitched-together image of the brain. Those images are projected on the monitors seen in the picture for doctors to examine.

One person making decisions in that room is Vascular Interventional Neurologist Dr. Hesham Masoud. With such advancements to technology that deals directly with diagnosing and analyzing strokes, he believes we are farther along with treatment than we are with neurorehab.

“I think about how important physical therapy is and neurorehabilitation is,” said Masoud. “I can’t take out a clot every stroke in case. But rehab, that’s going to be everybody.”

The condition can leave those unable to do daily tasks they once did without a single thought. Most stroke patients are released in five days or less, but the care does not end there. Masoud described the multiple phases that patients go through once the operation has taken place.

“We’re doing early therapy, diagnosis, secondary prevention and then neurorehab,” said Masoud.

Regardless of future advancements, one of the most crucial parts of dealing with strokes is educating the public. Even someone with extensive knowledge understands how important that is.

“I think there’s still room in some basic, boring stuff like telling people what a stroke is,” said Masoud. “There’s a lot of benefit in that basic message.”

While technological advancements in diagnosis and treatment will save lots of lives, that basic message may just save some as well.

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