From Delays to Rapid Response: A Smarter Approach to Stroke Care
When the Warning Signs Appeared
It was in the middle of the night when Cami discovered she could not move the left side of her body. She tried speaking to her husband, but the words would not come. That’s when he noticed her drooping face.
They went to see her CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic primary care physician, Dr. Mariel Bagley, who directed Cami to the emergency room for imaging.
An MRI at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital – San Marcos confirmed Cami had suffered a stroke deep within her basal ganglia, affecting her movement.
At 34, Cami was well below the average age for a stroke patient. In fact, the American Heart Association reports that women who experience a first-time stroke are, on average, around 75 years old.
Neurosurgeon Dr. Ryan Morton, who was part of Cami’s care team, said that while strokes in younger individuals do occur, they are typically linked to significant medical comorbidities such as hypertension, high cholesterol or uncontrolled diabetes.
“Cami was unique in the fact that she had none of those,” Dr. Morton said. “She had an extremely rare case that really took a huge amount of teamwork, from neurosurgery to the ICU and the neurology team, to really figure out and give her the best care possible.”
Imaging also revealed evidence of a prior stroke. Cami was placed on blood thinners and discharged, but returned to the hospital later that same day after her symptoms recurred, this time at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital – New Braunfels.
There, Cami learned she had suffered an ischemic stroke, which had cut off blood flow to a part of her brain.
“This was a right-sided stroke,” Dr. Morton said. “It was about the size of an egg, and despite it being a moderate-sized stroke, it happened to spare a lot of the really important areas by just millimeters. She was extraordinarily lucky.”
Getting the Right Care Without Delay
Cami needed to be transferred to a facility capable of providing advanced stroke care. Fortunately, that level of care was available at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital – Westover Hills.
Even though it would be a 50-minute drive, her care was not delayed, thanks to their use of Viz.ai, an AI-powered healthcare platform for disease detection and workflow optimization.
“It links facilities, providers and disciplines in real time,” said Christina Perez, stroke program manager at CHRISTUS Spohn Health System. “It’s an essential capability within CHRISTUS, where coordination between comprehensive, primary and acute stroke-ready centers is critical.”
Before Viz.ai, delays often occurred across the stroke workflow, from identifying large vessel occlusions and interpreting imaging to initiating consultations, contacting the right specialists and coordinating transfers across a geographically diverse system that includes rural facilities.
Communication was often fragmented and sequential, with teams unaware of incoming stroke patients until later in the process.
Because physicians were able to review Cami’s scans in real time without repeat imaging, her care continued without delay, allowing the necessary teams to make a diagnosis that would otherwise take the radiologist on call 30 minutes to an hour.
“A hemorrhage was detected by the neurosurgery team and my colleague Dr. Monsivais,” Dr. Morton said. “He called me right away, and we looked at the films together to figure out the best plan for her.”
Uncovering a Rare Cause of Stroke
They used a specialized test to map the blood vessels in the brain, revealing the cause of her strokes.
Cami had a lateral lenticulostriate dissecting aneurysm, a rare condition involving a tiny artery deep inside the brain. The artery had become injured and developed a small aneurysm that ruptured, causing bleeding into the surrounding area.
The vessel itself was about half a millimeter wide, roughly the same size as the smallest catheter used in the procedure.
A Difficult Decision and a Successful Outcome
The team chose to monitor the aneurysm while stabilizing her with blood clot medication. A week later, a follow-up angiogram showed that it had not resolved. At that point, Cami and her family faced a difficult decision: continue monitoring or move forward with a procedure to treat it.
They chose to proceed.
Using a catheter carefully guided into the affected artery, Dr. Morton coiled the aneurysm, sealing it off and preventing further bleeding.
When Cami woke up, she had no major neurological deficits.
“I was able to go to her husband in the waiting room and shake his hand, letting him know everything went well,” Dr. Morton said. “This is why we wanted to build this program, so we can help people like Cami.”
The Power of Coordinated Stroke Care
Today, Cami is back home, grateful to have come through her ordeal with her health and independence intact. She sees a speech therapist three times a week and aspirates on thin liquids. But as a mother of three, she says this is a small price to pay compared to what could have been a life-altering setback for her and her family.
“I don’t know how to show thanks to CHRISTUS,” Cami said. “They all went above and beyond and had such a calming presence. We were very impressed.”
Dr. Morton credits the multidisciplinary approach across CHRISTUS facilities that helps ensure patients like Cami receive a consistent, high standard of coordinated care at every step, no matter where they enter the system.
He calls Cami’s experience a lesson in listening to the body and urges everyone to take even the smallest warning signs seriously.
“When Cami’s symptoms first presented, they were relatively mild, and it could have certainly turned into something worse if left untreated,” Dr. Morton said. “But she was very proactive in coming to the hospital, and her diagnosis was made very quickly, thanks to communication between all teams and ultimately having the right state-of-the-art equipment.”
