Baylor University Medical Center Announces "Latest Advances in Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Stroke Therapy Conference"

The leading neuroscience institution in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, Baylor University Medical Center, will host the first annual stroke conference on May 8th, 2010. The conference will feature local experts and visiting Mayo Clinic professors.

Ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke therapy is a complex and constantly changing field of medicine that incorporates specialists from many different backgrounds. State of the art management of stroke patients requires an efficient and coordinated team of EMS personnel, nurses and physicians using the latest treatment algorithms. The team of experts involved in stroke care includes specialists from neurosurgery, neurology, neuroradiology, emergency medicine, primary care and critical care medicine. As neuroscientists develop safer and more effective treatments for stroke patients, it is crucial that all practitioners who see patients with ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke be exposed to the latest advancements.

This full day conference will feature experts from emergency medicine, neurology, neurosurgery and interventional neuroradiology. These specialists will discuss the latest advancements in stroke and provide information and techniques that will narrow the current practice gap. The conference will utilize concurrent parallel speaker sessions focused on the audience's background and skill level. Topics will range from basic principles such as use of IV tPA for acute ischemic stroke to advanced techniques in the treatment of intracranial aneurysms. The conference will include case discussion and panel debate formats that will allow for audience interaction, and there will be special audience response system technology incorporated into certain lectures. Health care professionals working with severely brain injured patients must be able to communicate effectively with patient families in emotionally difficult circumstances. In order to address this difficult task, participants in both the basic and advanced sessions will unite at the end of the conference for a special CME accredited ethics discussion related to patients with stroke.

Recommendations for the establishment of Primary Stroke Centers, to improve the care of stroke patients, were published in 2000. In 2005, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas became the first Certified Primary Stroke Center in the Dallas/Fort Worth region. Through the process of the Joint Commission's Disease Specific Care Re-Certification Surveys, Baylor University Medical Center maintains the Primary Stroke Center's Gold Seal of Approval.

Kennith F. Layton, MD, FAHA
Program Chairman
Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiologist
Director of Interventional Neuroradiology
Assistant Program Director, Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program
Baylor University Medical Center Dallas,TX