Doctor talks advances in stroke treatment

JACKSON, Tenn. — There are recent advances in the treatment for strokes.

According to the CDC, stroke is very common. About 800,000 Americans have a stroke every year.

Unfortunately, every three minutes someone in the U.S. dies from a stroke.

Stroke is a disruption of blow flow.

Doctors say the vast majority are caused from a blood clot or blockage of blood flow in the brain.

Mechanical thrombectomy is a minimally invasive procedure performed through a small incision in the groin.

“Stick a small plastic tube or catheter all the way up to the brain, and either pull that clot out or suck that clot out,” said Dr. Kendrick Johnson, Neurosurgeon, Tulane University School of Medicine. “What that does is it turns what would have been a very large stroke into a smaller stroke, and it helps improve patients outcomes and recover from the stroke more completely in certain situations.”

If facial numbness, arm weakness or slurring speech suddenly appears, call 9-1-1 right away.

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