VCU Health Comprehensive Stroke Center Distinctions
To contact Stroke Services
If this is an emergency, call 911.
The Comprehensive Stroke Center at VCU Health is the only Stroke Center in central Virginia staffed by neurointensivists with 24/7 coverage by a neurologist and neurosurgeon. We also offer 24/7 mechanical clot retrieval, called a thrombectomy, by specially trained endovascular neurosurgeons.
Our neurosurgeons are the most experienced vascular neurosurgeons in Virginia with a combined experience of more than 25 years. Together, our providers have done more than 10,000 cases during their careers.
VCU Health’s Comprehensive Stroke Center takes pride in the following distinctions:
- Virginia's first Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center certified by The Joint Commission. With our multidisciplinary program, patient care is coordinated from the time of arrival in the emergency department through rehabilitation.
- First in Virginia to extend the emergency code stroke alert to 24 hours
- A stroke alert team goes into action the moment a patient enters the door - ensuring the fastest diagnosis and initiation of treatment.
- A record of exceeding best practices for stroke care. The target is to administer IV-TPA (“clot-busting” drugs) to 50 percent of patients (where appropriate) within one hour of arrival. We achieve this goal virtually 100 percent of the time.
- A consistently superior IV-TPA time of less than 30 minutes from hospital arrival
Advanced Certification by The Joint Commission
VCU Health is certified by The Joint Commission for expert stroke care, meeting and exceeding the demanding standards for Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center designation in terms of:
- Advanced neuroimaging
- Faculty expertise
- Interventions and surgeries
- Volume of specific stroke treatments and outcomes
We believe The Joint Commission certification is a tremendous honor and responsibility, crediting our interdisciplinary work across the following clinical specialization:
- Cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery
- Emergency medicine
- Neurology Stroke Service inpatient units functioning 24/7
- Neuroscience ICU inpatient units open 24/7
- Vascular (stroke) neurology
- Vascular and endovascular surgery
At VCU Health we are committed to the highest quality of compassionate patient care. Our Comprehensive Stroke Center employs a range of performance measures in the clinical setting to evaluate the care of our patients. As part of The Joint Commission certification, the statistics outlined below show the most recent complication rates for endovascular procedures for stroke at VCU Medical Center.
| Date Range | Number of Patients with Complications | Total Cases | % of Patients with Complications |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 2014-June 2023 | 24 | 2,435 | 0.9% |
Additionally, VCU Health continues to be recognized annually as an elite American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Gold Plus and Target Stroke hospital, exceeding the qualification for stroke performance measures.
Partners with the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association
The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association recognizes VCU Health for numerous achievements, including:
- 85 percent or higher compliance with all Get with the Guidelines® - Stroke Achievement Measures
- 75 percent or higher compliance with five or more Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Quality
- Thrombolytic Therapy ≤ 60 minutes 75 percent and ≤ 45 minutes 50 percent or more of applicable acute
- Ischemic stroke patients improve quality of patient care and outcomes
