Pasco County stroke patients who need a blood clot pulled from the brain will no longer have to be transferred out of the county for the procedure.
AdventHealth Wesley Chapel unveils a new biplane neurointerventional suite Aug. 17 at its campus at 2600 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., according to Wesley Chapel Community. The suite enables mechanical thrombectomy, in which a specialist threads a thin catheter through a patient's blood vessels to reach and remove a clot blocking blood flow to the brain. No open surgery is required.
Until now, some Pasco patients needing that level of intervention had to be driven to hospitals outside the county, adding critical minutes to treatment and distance from family.
"Time is brain," Dr. Jason Maljaars, the hospital's medical director of neurology, said in a Business Observer report. "When blood flow to the brain is blocked, brain cells begin to die within minutes."
Maljaars said having the ability to perform advanced stroke intervention on campus means patients receive critical treatment faster, which can lead to better recovery. He is a board-certified vascular neurologist who completed a fellowship at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and serves as stroke medical director at Pioneer Health, the affiliated neurology group on the Wesley Chapel campus.
How the biplane suite works
Biplane means two rotating cameras instead of one. They image the brain's blood vessels from multiple angles simultaneously, building a three-dimensional view that lets a physician steer a catheter through arteries the width of a pencil lead. AdventHealth says the dual-camera setup also shortens procedure time.
Beyond stroke, the hospital plans to use the suite for brain aneurysms, diagnostic cerebral angiograms and middle meningeal artery embolization, a minimally invasive treatment for chronic subdural hematomas.
AdventHealth did not disclose the suite's cost.
The hospital's path to a higher stroke-center designation
The 193-bed hospital currently holds Primary Stroke Center designation, the level covering rapid diagnosis, imaging and clot-busting drug treatment, according to Florida AHCA records. AdventHealth is now pursuing Comprehensive Stroke Center status, reserved for facilities equipped to handle the most complex cases. The new suite and added neurointerventional physicians are part of that push.
More than 80,000 Floridians were hospitalized for strokes in 2023, according to the Florida Department of Health. Stroke remains a leading cause of death and long-term disability nationally.
Monday's event is a first look for clinicians, EMS crews and community leaders. The hospital has not announced when the first patient procedures will take place or when it expects a decision on the Comprehensive Stroke Center designation.
