TUCSON - The morning of August 19th, 86 year old Beulah Hunter had a stroke, and paramedics quickly rushed her to St. Mary's hospital.
Doctor Francisco Valdivia said, ""When she came in she was blind, she was not able to talk, she was not able to express herself also she was paralyzed on the right side.45:57
Doctors found a blood clot in a vessel leading to the left side of her brain, stopping blood flow.
Dr Stella Kahn said, ""It was decided that it would be best to try and put a catheter right next to the clot.""
Normally, doctors inject a substance into the blood with an IV, which flows to the clot, breaking it up, but in this case, it would take more than that.
They ran a catheter from her groin area all the way up through blood vessels into her brain, dispersing a solution directly on the clot, dissolving it completely.
In this case, it was successful.
The technical term for it is IV TPA bridging to Intra Arterial TPA, and it's fairly new.
It's been in Tucson for a little over a year, but St. Mary's is the only hospital in Tucson that does the procedure 24/7.
Doctor Francisco Valdivia said, ""She was lucky enough to be in an institution that service 24/7, and I think that she did great and we are very proud of that.""
Beulah said, ""They saved my life and I'm thankful.""
Not to mention, Beulah has 9 kids, 35 grand kids, and 77 great grand kids, because of this stroke treatment, she'll continue to see them.
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