The American Heart Association launches effort with 15 advanced
stroke teams to establish hemorrhagic stroke treatment best practices

DETROIT – DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital is one of 15 hospitals across the United States chosen to participate in a new, nationwide initiative to improve the number of stroke-related deaths due to brain bleeds.

The DMC Comprehensive Stroke Center in Detroit was chosen due to the team’s demonstrated leadership in minimally invasive parafascicular surgery, or MIPS; infrastructure readiness to treat stroke patients; and interest in expanding intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) surgical options.

Under the leadership of DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital’s Stroke Director, Dr. Wazim Mohamed; DMC’s Specialty-in-Chief for Neurosurgery, Dr. Parthasarathi Chamiraju; and Stroke Program Lead Nurse Practitioner, Maryam Hakemi-King, the stroke team has expanded services over the years with a strong emphasis on outcomes and a commitment to providing the highest standards of care based on the latest evidence-based practices.

“As a hospital well-versed in advanced stroke care, participation in this initiative was a natural choice,” said Dr. Wazim Mohamed, the Medical Director of DMC’s Central Campus Stroke Program and Neurocritical Care unit. “The initiative will validate best practices by high-performing medical teams to establish national standards and guidelines for the best way to treat patients with brain bleeds.”

Hemorrhagic strokes account for just 13% of the nearly 800,000 strokes that occur in the U.S. each year, yet they are responsible for more than 40% of all stroke-related deaths.[1] These devastating brain bleeds have long lacked standardized surgical treatment protocols, limiting patient recovery options.

In response, the American Heart Association is launching the new, nationwide initiative to accelerate the adoption of effective surgical approaches, including minimally invasive techniques, to improve outcomes for people affected by intracerebral hemorrhage.

“As part of the initiative with this elite group, DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital is honored to help advance care for stroke victims everywhere,” Dr. Chamiraju said. “This initiative will establish what helps people best survive these brain bleeds, which will assist teams with decisions to help increase survival.”

The Hemorrhagic Stroke Surgical Quality Improvement Initiative will identify and amplify national models of effective ICH care, including the use of minimally invasive parafascicular surgery (MIPS). MIPS is a minimally invasive procedure that uses a tubular retractor to navigate through the brain’s natural folds, along with a powered instrument designed to remove clots and help prevent damage. Research has shown that when performed within 24 hours of a brain bleed, MIPS may lead to better recovery outcomes at six months compared to standard treatments.[2]

“The ability to share data and accelerate learning is critical to improving stroke care,” said Kevin Sheth, M.D., FAHA, American Heart Association volunteer, chair of the Association’s ICH Science Advisory Group and director of the Yale Center for Brain & Mind Health. “Through this initiative, we hope to reduce the devastating outcomes associated with hemorrhagic stroke.”

DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital, a Level-1 Trauma Center just off Mack Avenue west of I-75 at 4201 St. Antoine St., Detroit, is one of fifteen hospitals across the U.S. that will participate in the learning collaborative. The initiative will use data from the Association’s Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke registry, which tracks approximately three-quarters of the nation’s stroke hospitalizations. These selected sites will analyze ICH care data and clinical workflows to identify successful models that could be scaled nationally:

• Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee
• Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland
• DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital in Detroit
• Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, California
• Hackensack Meridian Health Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, New Jersey
• Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis
• Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston
• Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston
• Montefiore Medical Center-Moses Campus in Bronx, New York
• Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania
• SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital in St. Louis
• The University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City, Kansas
• UCI Medical Center in Orange, California
• University Medical Center of El Paso in El Paso, Texas
• Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut

DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital – along with the health system’s three other stroke centers at DMC Sinai-Grace, DMC Harper University Hospital and DMC Huron Valley-Sinai hospitals – has already received the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines^®- Stroke Gold Plus Elite Honor Roll for demonstrating commitment to following up-to-date, research-based guidelines for the treatment of heart disease and stroke.

Watch the video here.