Under newly-revised guidelines, more stroke patients qualify for life-saving thrombectomy

UConn Health has elite expertise in a highly specialized cranial procedure known to be effective as an urgent intervention for certain types of stroke. Now, its neurosurgeons and interventional radiologists can offer this potentially life-saving procedure to more patients.

Historically, a limited number of patients have qualified for endovascular thrombectomy based on established guidelines. Many patients are excluded by the size of the stroke based on advanced imaging.

Dr. Ketan Bulsara, chief of the UConn Health Division of Neurosurgery, was selected to a national panel to revisit the guidelines for use of endovascular treatment of stroke, also known as mechanical thrombectomy.

The findings, published in the Journal of Neurointerventional Surgery, establish a wider patient population that would qualify for this treatment option.

"UConn Health was part of the team that facilitated expansion of the criteria based on recent scientific evidence," Bulsara says. "With these recommended standards and guidelines, more people can be potentially treated through this life-saving procedure."

Bulsara established the mechanical thrombectomy program at UConn Health in 2017, which has now grown to include radiology colleagues Dr. Abner Gershon and Dr. Eric Cohen.

"Providing state-of-the-art care that is second to none and shaping the future of treatment to improve the status quo is a driving force in all of our clinical missions," Bulsara says.