The Doctor Is In
by Hank Clever, MD
Director, Community and Denominational Relations
SSM St. Joseph Health Center, SSM St. Joseph Hospital West, SSM St. Joseph Health Center–Wentzville

Sept. 10, 2009

New technology is always exciting, and physicians with the SSM Neurosciences Institute are taking advantage of a new tool for vascular imaging. The biplane angiography technology now in use by the SSM Neurosciences Institute allows specialists to see highly detailed, 3-D images of the brain. Patients who may be having a stroke benefit because the physicians can determine quickly exactly where a blood clot has formed.

“We can either deliver the clot-busting drug, tPA, directly to the site of the clot to dissolve it or use a MERCI Clot Retriever to remove it,” explains Nirav Vora, MD, a neurointerventionist with the SSM Neurosciences Institute, who is board-certified in stroke treatment.

The biplane system uses two X-ray cameras, positioned at a 90-degree angle and is able to rotate a full 180 degrees, which allows physicians to view two images concurrently. “The speed and accuracy of the equipment removes the need for multiple injections of contrast dye, which we use to see the veins and arteries clearly,” Dr. Vora says. “We can see the vascular system of the brain in less time, using less contrast and with less radiation exposure. This is all beneficial for the patient.”

I’ve been around a long time, and I continue to be astounded by the medical advances that make diagnosis and treatment ever more precise. It’s good to know the technology is there if we need it!

We now have this biplane technology available at two of our sister hospitals, SSM DePaul Health Center in Bridgeton and SSM St. Clare Health Center in Fenton.  Dr. Vora told me the biplane system began earning its keep almost immediately. “We used the system within 24 hours of its final installation at DePaul,” Dr. Vora says. “A 68-year-old man came to the emergency room with stroke symptoms. Using biplane imaging, we located the blood clot and administered interarterial tPA. The patient got the right care at the right time – he walked out of the hospital three days later with no aftereffects from his stroke.”

Biplane angiography is the most recent jewel in the SSM Neurosciences Institute’s crown and is available to patients across SSM as part of our new stroke network of care. As a part of the SSM Health Care family, I’m also very proud that SSM St. Joseph Health Center in St. Charles is the only hospital in Missouri to earn the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get with the Guidelines Gold Award for excellence in stroke treatment.

According to the American Heart Association’s Web site, “Get With The Guidelines is the premier hospital-based quality improvement program for the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association. It empowers healthcare provider teams to consistently treat heart and stroke patients according to the most up-to-date guidelines.” To earn the Gold Award, staff at SSM St. Joseph Health Center followed stroke treatment guidelines in certain key measures at least 85 percent of the time and maintained that performance level for more than two years.

Hank Clever, MD, is a well-known pediatrician in the St. Charles community. Since retiring from private practice in 1998, Dr. Clever continues to speak to community groups and organizations about a variety of health-related topics. “The Doctor Is In” appears twice monthly in the Suburban Journals of St. Charles County.

Send questions for Dr. Clever c/o Public Relations Department, SSM St. Joseph Health Center, 300 First Capitol Dr., St. Charles, MO 63301.

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