Minimizing delays is a crucial step in improving outcomes with acute stroke therapies whose efficacy is clearly time dependent. Logistic and human barriers to rapid stroke care can be overcome with a systematic “Stroke Alert Team” approach provided by a structured multi-disciplinary acute stroke response team.

In Palm Beach County, the most advanced interventions are available at JFK Medical Center — the county’s 1st AHCA recognized Comprehensive Stroke Center.

The clinical staff at JFK Medical Center work closely with their colleagues in neurology, neurosurgery, spine surgery and physical medicine as well as healthcare providers from other hospitals and community clinics to provide superior care to patients. Our interdisciplinary care teams truly exemplify JFK Medical Center’s commitment to offering the best diagnosis and treatment possible for your patients.

Acute Stroke Treatment

After patients have suffered a stroke, specialized care continues in our Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit. Nurses in these units have expertise in neurological assessments and provide comprehensive care and education to patients and their families.

• IV tPA
• Intra-arterial tPA
• Mechanical thrombectomy (Merci or Penumbra)
• Cerebral stenting

• Coiling and clipping of aneurysms
• Ventricular drainage (acute and chronic)

Emergency Stroke Treatment

Because the first three hours after the start of stroke symptoms are critically important, JFK’s emergency department staff are skilled at immediately determining the best treatment plan by rapid diagnosis and treatment for patients who suffer a stroke 24 hours a day, 7 days a week using diagnostic services, including CT (computed tomography) scans and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), as well as providing state-of-the-art care with clot-busting medication.

Our Acute Stroke Team includes:

• EMS providers
• Emergency Physicians
• Neurologists
• Neurosurgeons
• NeuroInterventionalist
• Neuroradiologists
• Diagnostic and Interventional Radiologists
• Intensivists and Hospitalists

Additional Resources on Stroke

For more information on stroke symptoms, risk factors and statistics, please visit our Health Library and The American Stroke Association.

Take an online stroke risk assessment.

The Neurointerventionalist specializes in the minimally invasive, endovascular approach of navigating microcatheters through the blood vessels under continuous x-ray guidance. Diseases treated with these techniques include stroke, cerebral aneurysm, brain and spine arteriovenous malformations (AVM’s).

As part of the multidisciplinary and patient-centered neuroscience team, our experts in cerebral vascular and spine diseases work together to provide you and your loved ones access to a range of advanced treatment options for complex, challenging, and often life-threatening neurological conditions.

Neurointerventional surgery provides a complete spectrum of minimally invasive services for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with vascular problems related to the brain and spinal cord. Historically, certain conditions that would have required open surgery such as aneurysms, carotid artery disease, vascular malformations, and tumors of the head, brain, neck, and spine can now be considered for a minimally invasive treatment using a neurointerventional surgery approach to reach the problem.

JFK Medical Center’s comprehensive diagnostic and interventional radiology department offers advanced imaging services of the brain and spine that are interpreted by a team of board-certified radiologists. Full-time Neuroradiologists, who have additional years of training in neuroimaging techniques, provide subspeciality MR and CT interpretations to the JFK Neurosciences Institute. The images are generated on state-of-the-art equipment that has been accredited by the American College of Radiology.

Our state-of-the-art Interventional Neuroangiography surgical suite provides minimally invasive services and treatments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The JFK Medical Center Spine Institute consists of a team of experts that use the latest advancements in diagnosis and treatment to help patients conquer their pain and regain their life. The causes of pain are many, but help is available. In consultation with your physician, treatment options discussed may include surgical and/or non-surgical (medical) options.

JFK Medical Center has Neurosurgical and Orthopedic fellowship-trained spine specialists. We have pain management consultants for the management of acute and chronic pain who work closely with their colleagues of physicians, nurses, physical therapists, and occupational therapists to help determine an accurate diagnosis and develop a plan of care that is designed specifically for you.

Our goal is quicker recovery with less pain and complications. We also offer interventional pain management techniques such as implantable pumps that dispense medication or stimulate the spinal cord to relieve back spasms.

Our multidisciplinary team of professionals focus on treating patients with spinal injuries using state-of-the-art technology:

• Back Pain (acute and chronic)
• Compression Fractures — Spine
• Degenerative Disc Disease
• Disc Herniation/Problems
• Extremity Pain (arm or leg)
• Failed Back and Neck Surgery
• Motor Vehicle Accident-Related Injuries
• Myofascial Pain
• Neck Pain (acute and chronic)
• Neuropathy/Radiculopathy
• Numbness (related to spine and back)
• Osteoarthritis
• Sciatica
• Scoliosis Deformity
• Spinal Stenosis
• Sports Injuries
• Weakness Associated with a Neurological Diagnosis
• Work-Related Injuries

If surgery is necessary, our surgical team may perform conventional as well as minimally invasive spine techniques.