Getting prompt treatment for a stroke is of major importance. That was one of the lessons driven home to Chadds Ford Business Association members during a lunch meeting at Crozer Keystone’s Brinton Lake Facility. Dr. Erol Veznedaroglu, a neurosurgeon and the director of Drexel Neurosciences Institute at Drexel University’s College of Medicine was the guest speaker.
Known as Dr. Vez, he told the group that two million brain cells die for every two minutes the brain goes without blood flow. “Fast treatment can save some of the areas affected by a loss of blood flow,” he said.
Veznedaroglu added that strokes are on the rise, causing deaths every four minutes. In addition, strokes are now happening to people in their teens and 20s, along with heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
Neurological disorders are the leading cause of disability, he said, and that they represent 15 percent of all medical burdens in the United States. He also called them “the number one crippler and killer.”
Surgical techniques have improved over the years, he said, and quick surgery can improve blood supply by opening arteries. He considers strokes to be a “surgical disease.”
Crozer, he said, now has a dedicated neurological emergency room, operating room and an intensive care unit. And the team has grown as well. Dr. Vez said there were four neurologists and three neurosurgeons at Crozer in 2017. Today, there are 10 neurosurgeons and 20 neurologists. It’s the largest group of its kind in the mid-Atlantic region.
“You’ll get no better care anywhere" he said.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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