Diagnosis & Treatment


How is Stroke Diagnosed?

Your board-certified neurologist will quickly conduct physical and neurological exams and ask you several questions about your symptoms, checking your:

  • Balance
  • Circulation
  • Comprehension
  • Coordination
  • Intracranial atherosclerotic disease
  • Muscle strength
  • Muscle tone
  • Reflexes
  • Sense of sight and touch
  • Speech

Your doctor may order some of the following tests:

  • Cerebral angiography
  • Brain CT scan (computed tomography)
  • Brain MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)
  • Carotid duplex
  • CT (computed tomography) angiography
  • Echocardiogram
  • Diagnostic Angiography
  • Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA)
  • Preoperative embolization of brain tumors

Conditions Treated at Saint Francis Hospital

  • Stroke – acute ischemic and hemorrhagic
  • Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
  • Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA)
  • Vasculitis
  • Moya Moya disease
  • Cerebral aneurysms
  • Carotid stenosis
  • Arterial Dissections
  • Cerebral venous thrombosis
  • Vascular malformations (AVM)
  • Arterio-venous fistulas

How is Stroke Treated?

Call 911 immediately if you or a loved one experiences any signs of a stroke or mini-stroke. 

Saint Francis Hospital's expert services cover every aspect of stroke care for patients and their families, including emergency stroke treatment. Because the first three hours after a stroke are critically important, Saint Francis Hospital's emergency stroke team is adept at immediately determining the best course of treatment through a variety of testing and diagnostic procedures. Saint Francis provides round-the-clock stroke care 365 days a year.

Treatments/Procedures Performed at Saint Francis Hospital

  •  Thrombolytics for acute Stroke
  •  Thrombectomy for Acute Stroke
  •  Aneurysm coiling and clipping
  •  Arterial embolization for epistaxis & arteriovenous malformation
  • Carotid Artery Stenting / endarterectomy
  • Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) closure
  • Intracranial stenting for ICAD, EDAS and EC-IC bypass procedures