Dr. Ali R. Malek, an interventional neurologist with the Palm Beach Neuroscience Institute (PBNI) and the director of the neurointerventional program at St. Mary’s Medical Center, recently presented: “Improve Recognition of Treatment Option for Stroke” to physicians and residents at the VA Medical Center in West Palm Beach. Dr. Malek’s lecture topic focused on identifying treatment options for acute stroke and describing treatment modalities. The presentation also highlighted the different categories, evaluation, acute management and primary and secondary prevention of stroke. He also presented multimodal imaging available at St. Mary’s specialized angiography lab as a premier scanning and imaging technology tool to treat stroke patients.Throughout his presentation, Dr. Malek emphasized “time is brain.” “Time is brain” highlights that human nervous tissue is rapidly lost as a stroke progresses. He said that during every minute of an acute ischemic stroke the brain loses 1.9 million neurons.
The presentation also included left hemisphere syndrome and right hemisphere syndrome for stroke, first aid for stroke at the clinical level and stroke protocol. Focusing once again on “time is brain,” Dr. Malek emphasizes much that can be done in a shorter period of time that will have a greater amount of impact when it comes to stroke care. He highlighted the importance of partnering with EMS colleagues and local communities to educate everyone on stroke evaluation, treatment, ER Management and NIH Score (used to categorize the severity of a stroke).
His presentation concluded with identifying characteristics of a primary stroke center, designated by meeting standards that support better outcomes for stroke care, as opposed to a comprehensive stroke center like at St. Mary’s in West Palm Beach, which meets standards of treatment for the most complex stroke cases.
