Ronald Perley (center) delivers a speech at his son’s wedding reception in La Jolla. (Courtesy of the Perley family)
The nurse immediately declared a stroke and Perley was taken for imaging.
The results confirmed an ischemic stroke, which is caused by a clot that blocks blood flow to the brain. Further investigation revealed that the stroke was caused by Perley’s pre-existing medical conditions that were unrelated to the treatment he received at the hospital.
David Santiago-Dieppa, MD, a vascular neurosurgeon at UC San Diego Health, performed a mechanical thrombectomy on Perley, a minimally invasive emergency procedure that uses special instruments to remove a clot from the brain, restoring blood flow after an ischemic stroke.
“In strokes, rapid intervention is critical because every second counts,” said Santiago-Dieppa, assistant professor in the department of neurosurgery at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. “By quickly identifying the stroke and removing the blood clot, we were able to significantly reduce the potential long-term impact on Mr. Perley’s health.”
UC San Diego Health is the only health system in the county with two comprehensive stroke care sites at Hillcrest Medical Center and Jacobs Medical Center in La Jolla. The Comprehensive Stroke Center at Hillcrest Medical Center was the first of five in the country. Both centers are led by a multidisciplinary team of stroke experts, including neurologists, neurointensivists, neurosurgeons, cardiologists and rehabilitation therapists.
Stroke specialists are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for immediate response. UC San Diego Health experts use advanced diagnostic and treatment technologies to provide each patient with personalized therapy, helping to save more lives, shorten recovery times and reduce hospital readmissions.
“Our Comprehensive Stroke Center at UC San Diego Health is uniquely equipped to receive and treat the most challenging stroke cases,” said Santiago-Dieppa. “With a specialized neurological intensive care unit for stroke patients, we are excellent at performing advanced neurovascular procedures, such as the surgery that saved Mr. Perley’s life.”
