Certified Comprehensive Stroke Center in Portsmouth

Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death — and the leading cause of serious long-term disability — in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To combat the impact, Portsmouth Regional Hospital provides the highest level of stroke care available. Through our expertise, best practices and positive outcomes, we have earned certification as a Comprehensive Stroke Center. We are one of only two Comprehensive Stroke Centers in New Hampshire — and we’re the only one on the Seacoast.

What is comprehensive stroke care?

When it comes to stroke care, “time is brain.” Whether you have a good outcome depends directly on how quickly you receive medical attention. Comprehensive Stroke Centers are equipped to treat the most complex cases, including hemorrhagic or large ischemic strokes. We also have earned the Get With the Guidelines Quality Achievement Award for Stroke Care from the American Heart Association (AHA).

With us, patients from the Seacoast and surrounding communities can receive critical, life-saving care close to home.

Specialized stroke treatment

As soon as we know you’ve had — or are suspected of having — a stroke, we issue a Stroke Alert. This triggers our highly integrated process for rapid diagnosis and treatment within your first three post-stroke hours. The Stroke Alert process streamlines our efforts across all services to improve your care.

We’re equipped to provide a wide range of medical, surgical, and rehabilitation services if you’ve experienced:

  • Ischemic stroke: Blood loss to the brain due to clot-blocked artery
  • Hemorrhagic stroke: Bleeding into the brain due to a ruptured brain artery
  • Transient ischemic attack (TIA): A stroke that begins due to a temporary blood clot but resolves without noticeable symptoms

The stroke services we offer are unique to our area. If you have experienced a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) — bleeding into the space around the brain — we are the only Seacoast hospital to offer life-saving procedures. We provide endovascular or mechanical thrombectomy (a stent retriever) and emergent coiling.

Stroke and Brain Aneurysm Clinic

Stroke — both ischemic and hemorrhagic — is a significant problem nationwide, and approximately 1 in 50 people in the U.S. have an unruptured brain aneurysm, according to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If that aneurysm ruptures, or bursts, this leads to hemorrhagic stroke. About half of the people who suffer a hemorrhagic stroke survive, but approximately 66 percent of the survivors will suffer permanent damage.

Having an undetected blood clot (ischemic stroke) accounts for 87 percent of all strokes across the country.

Our Stroke and Brain Aneurysm Clinic’s multidisciplinary team of interventional neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuro-radiologists and rehabilitation specialists are ready to provide cutting-edge medical, endovascular and surgical stroke management. Having specialized expertise together in one place means we collaborate on cases, get test results quickly and coordinate appointment scheduling. As a result, we provide comprehensive, well-organized, compassionate stroke care.

Hemorrhagic stroke treatment

Early detection and intervention are key to overcoming a hemorrhagic stroke. Our team of specialists is trained to identify and treat patients who are at risk for stroke. To do this, we offer:

  • Screening: Using imaging to see the brain arteries of people who have a family history of brain aneurysm
  • Coil embolization: Threading a catheter through the patient’s groin into an artery and placing coils to prompt an aneurysm to clot, stopping its growth
  • Pipeline flow diversion: Inserting a pipeline stent to construct a new artery wall that blood cannot fill

Ischemic stroke treatment

Clot removal is critical to treating an ischemic stroke. This can be done with medication or surgical treatment to reduce the potential impact of a blood clot. To treat these blockages, we provide:

  • Tenecteplase (TNK): Administered intravenously, this medication dissolves the clot and restores blood flow to the brain. Tenecteplase must be given within four and a half hours of onset of symptoms in most adults.
  • Mechanical thrombectomy: Under guidance from our neuroradiologists, our neurosurgeons use a wire-cage device called a stent retriever to grab the clot and remove it with special suction tubes. This procedure works best within six hours of the first symptom of a stroke.
  • Carotid and vertebral artery stenting: This nonsurgical procedure uses stents to open arteries that are too narrow.

Stroke rehabilitation and recovery

Our involvement with your stroke care doesn’t stop with treatment. We are also your partner on the road to recovery. Your next step may be returning home, receiving follow-up care at an inpatient rehab facility or participating in our outpatient Neuro Day Rehabilitation program.

No matter the setting, we provide the physical, occupational and speech-language therapy services you need to recapture your balance, endurance, skills and independence.

Know the risks of stroke

There are several controllable lifestyle behaviors that can increase your risk of stroke. Knowing what they are — and changing them — can help improve your brain health and reduce the impact of factors you can’t change, such as age, gender, genetics, or previous strokes or heart attacks.

  • Blood pressure: High blood pressure is the leading cause of stroke. Fortunately, it’s also something you can manage. A well-balanced diet, exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, moderate alcohol consumption and appropriate medication use can help keep your blood pressure in check.
  • Smoking: Nicotine and carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke damages the heart and weakens your blood vessels. If you smoke, quit.
  • Diabetes: Diabetes increases stroke-related risk factors, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and excess weight.
  • Diet and nutrition: A high-fat diet raises your cholesterol level. Too much LDL (bad) cholesterol clogs the arteries that feed blood to your heart and brain. This increases both your heart attack and stroke risk.
  • Activity and exercise: Being inactive or overweight (or both) boosts your risk for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. The American Heart Association recommends at least 30 minutes of exercise on most or all days. Exercise doesn’t need to be intense — taking the stairs or parking further away and walking can make a difference.

Certain other health conditions also can increase your stroke risk. Work with your doctor to control:

  • Atrial fibrillation (A-fib)
  • Carotid artery disease
  • Peripheral artery disease
  • Other heart diseases

Know the signs of stroke

Getting medical attention within three hours after stroke symptoms appear is vital to saving brain cells and preserving your quality of life. Fortunately, there are many stroke treatments and interventions that improve outcomes if they are delivered quickly.

To ensure the fastest delivery of services, remember to BE FAST with symptom identification:

  • B: Balance loss
  • E: Eyes blurred
  • F: Face droop
  • A: Arm Weakness
  • S: Speech difficulties
  • T: Time counts — call an ambulance!