The Jaffe Comprehensive Stroke Center at Maimonides provides exceptional, round-the-clock stroke care tailored to our community’s unique needs. But our dedicated team doesn’t stop there. Behind the scenes, they work tirelessly to establish evidence-based practice protocols, participate in clinical research, and maintain the highest quality standards.
Upcoming Stroke Symposium to Highlight New Research from Maimonides and Around the World
The team’s expertise will be displayed during the 3rd Annual Brooklyn Stroke Symposium on May 25. Jaffe Comprehensive Stroke Center is hosting the virtual/in-person symposium jointly sponsored by Maimonides Neuroscience Institute and the SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University Department of Neurology. Last year, more than 350 physicians and other health professionals attended. Registration for the event is FREE and currently open, with a maximum of 8.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits available.
“The symposium provides a forum for sharing information about new research and clinical paradigms here in Brooklyn and around the world,” says Q. Tony Wang, MD, PhD, a stroke neurologist, a neurointerventionalist, and director of the Jaffe Comprehensive Stroke Center. “It’s also an opportunity to showcase our team’s collaborative efforts to drive innovation in stroke prevention, treatment, and recovery.”
Daniel Rosenbaum, MD, Regional Chair of Neurology at Maimonides Medical Center and Distinguished Service Professor and Chairman of Neurology of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, will deliver the Welcome Remarks. Dr. Wang will provide the symposium’s opening remarks and a presentation titled “Thrombolytics & Neuroprotection: The Yin and Yang of Neuronal Survival in Stroke.”
Studies at the Stroke Center Help to Implement Cutting-Edge New Standards of Care
As part of the Department of Medicine grand rounds, Dr. Wang will discuss two recent initiatives at Maimonides that demonstrate the team’s commitment to continuous quality improvement and evidence-based practice. The first initiative is a 2022 pilot study at Maimonides, which evaluated the efficacy and safety of an alternative stroke IV thrombolytic agent, Tenecteplase, to Alteplase, the only fibrinolytic drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat acute ischemic stroke. The stroke team at Maimonides showed better door-to-needle time, cost-saving and, most importantly, similar outcome efficacy and safety despite its sicker population with higher NIH stroke scale of the Tenecteplase group compared to the Alteplase group. As a result, the team recently decided to switch to Tenecteplase as the main thrombolytic option for ischemic stroke. Researchers are preparing data results for publication and submission to the Maimonides institutional review board for a larger scale prospective national study.
The other initiative that will be highlighted is investigating the neuroprotective effect of the antibiotic Minocycline in acute stroke mortality. Based on the team’s retrospective review, discontinuation of Minocycline since 2019 may have been associated with statistically significant in-hospital mortality increase in acute stroke patients. The team is developing a follow-up prospective study to establish the direct linkminocycline’s neuroprotective effect in reducing mortality after acute ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke.
“This research is institution and population-specific—we don’t just copy and paste what other stroke centers are doing,” Dr. Wang says. “Studying institutional data from Maimonides helps us better understand our community’s needs, which are very diverse, so we can tailor our care protocols and patient support programs to the people we serve right here in Brooklyn. We also participate in large, national research trials to help develop novel therapies that may benefit patients world-wide.”
Maimonides is nationally recognized for excellence in stroke care. The Medical Center has been on the American Heart Association Gold Plus Honor Roll for 14 consecutive years and earned the Target Stroke Elite Plus award recognizing that at least 50% of patients receive IV thrombolytic treatments as indicated within 30 minutes of arrival. The Jaffe Comprehensive Stroke Center at Maimonides is also among the elite hospitals designated as a Comprehensive Stroke Center by the Joint Commission. In addition, U.S. News & World Report ranks Maimonides as a “Best Regional Hospital” and High Performing for Stroke Care (2022-23).
Learn more about the 3rd Annual Brooklyn Stroke Symposium and register.
