Minneapolis man's life saved with new tech at Hennepin Healthcare that helps detect, prevent strokes
In December, Troy Behnke experienced a medical emergency.
"I woke up and I had a bad headache, pretty much the worst headache I've ever, ever had," Behnke said. "And eventually I just fell for no good reason."
Soon after, another frightening symptom occurred.
"I was drinking a glass of water, and suddenly I was not holding the glass of water. I didn't even realize I had dropped it; I just could not hold on to it anymore," Behnke said.
Behnke and his wife knew he needed to go to the ER, where doctors used a new technology — a transcranial doppler (TCD) — to perform an ultrasound on Behnke's brain.
"In Troy's case, we were seeing that the blood flow in his brain was severely impaired," Dr. Edward Labin, a neurologist at HCMC, said. "We noticed that his carotid artery had torn, which we call a dissection."
Behnke was not having a stroke, but the lack of blood flow to his brain would likely have caused one at any moment.
"He could have lost half of his brain or even died," Labin said.
The transcranial doppler tool uses ultrasound to look at blood flow in the brain's major arteries—- and unlike other procedures, it's minimally invasive and doesn't expose patients to radiation.
"It gives us a dynamic picture of the brain. A CAT scan or MRI is really just a snapshot, whereas with this technology we are able to see how the blood is actually flowing, not just taking a picture, but really looking at it almost like a movie," Labin said.
Labin's team at HCMC claims the TCD has been able to dramatically change patient care for the better.
"Knowing what the outcome could be without this technology and then seeing what it's been able to do has been extremely gratifying," Labin said.
"It's really useful, it's innovative, it's kind of cool, and it helped me," Behnke said. "I was very, very lucky that they caught it that early."
TCD imaging is currently only available in Minnesota at HCMC and Mayo Clinic.
For more information about the transcranial doppler, click here.
