Take me to Alaska Regional Hospital: The only local hospital performing stroke-preventing TCARs
Larry Blachut gazed about his front yard, observing the professional removal of several trees, when — Timber! — a black curtain fell over his eyes. Stumped by the sudden blackness, Larry remained still until his vision slowly returned. He then headed inside and settled into his recliner. Everything seemed fine until he went to reach for a cup of coffee; his left arm wouldn’t move. It served as nothing but a heavy weight for a good 10 minutes until it regained full function.
“I said, ‘That’s a little strange,’ but didn’t think any more of it. I decided I’d call my doctor in the morning and check in with him,” Larry said.
The next day, after scheduling an appointment with his general practitioner, he received a call from one of the nurses, inquiring about Larry’s symptoms.
“I relayed what happened, and even though I felt fine, they said not to come into their office but to go immediately to the Emergency Room,” Larry said. “The ER did an EKG, which showed some abnormalities, and they said that it appeared I had had a mini-stroke.”
A transient ischemic attack (TIA), also known as a mini-stroke, is a brief interruption in blood flow to part of the brain, spinal cord or retina. It usually produces stroke-like symptoms that only last for a few minutes. Though TIAs don’t cause permanent damage or disability, they do serves as a red flag for future strokes.
After and a night of observation at the hospital, Larry met Dr. Priya Patel, an experienced vascular surgeon. Dr. Patel explained three possible treatment paths and the risks associated with each of them. The choice seemed obvious to Larry: He picked an innovative minimally invasive procedure called transcarotid artery revascularization (TCAR).
TCAR: A minimally invasive way to prevent future strokes
TCAR clears blocked carotid arteries and helps prevent future strokes. To accomplish the task, highly trained vascular surgeons create a small incision at the neck and then insert a surgical balloon and stent into the blocked artery. Unique to TCAR, the blood flow in the carotid artery is temporarily reversed during the procedure so that tiny sediments of plaque that may break off are redirected away from the brain to prevent strokes (during this time, blood still reaches the brain through other vessels). Without a large incision, TCAR patients have significantly less risk of blood loss and infection, as well as shorter hospital stays and quicker recoveries. TCAR is especially beneficial to patients with a higher risk of complications from surgery due to age or other health issues.
The relatively new procedure recently became available to Alaskans and is currently performed at Alaska Regional Hospital.
Alaska Regional Hospital: Providing cutting-edge, compassionate care
From the admission process to the operating room, Larry says ARH team members helped surgery day go by seamlessly.
“It was great! I was in a specialized operating room with high-end digital equipment. Plus, the caring people there made me feel very comfortable and relaxed,” Larry said.
Larry’s TCAR procedure took about 45 minutes. From there, Larry received close observation for several hours.
“Dr. Patel had explained that the right side of my brain had been receiving just a trickle of blood due to the blockage in the artery, and now with a stent in there, it would be bombarded with a firehouse of blood. They wanted to make sure my brain didn’t react badly.” Larry said. “Dr. Patel showed me the before and after pics, and I was amazed.”
Thankfully, after minor adjustments to blood pressure medications, Larry’s body felt strong, stable and ready to go home. Not only was Larry impressed with the progressive TCAR procedure, but he felt inspired by the people at ARH.
“A lot of people went way above and beyond what was normal. One nurse in recovery stayed an hour late just to take care of me. One nurse in ICU went down to the cafeteria once I was approved to eat and got a tray of food for me (between meal delivery times). Everybody was phenomenal!” Larry said.
Based on his experience, Larry says, “Take me to Alaska Regional Hospital” because, “They’re the most caring ones I know.”