Trends and Technologies in Stroke Care: An Interview with William Mack, MD

SNIS President William J. Mack, MD discusses trends and technologies in stroke care in an interview with SmartTRAK

• Advancing the stroke systems of care
• Trends in practice and device use for acute ischemic stroke
• Risks, benefits and challenges of treating more distal strokes
• Promising technologies on the horizon, including robotics
• Impact of COVID resurgence on clinical practice

To get the latest on stroke care, click on the following video to listen to a fascinating interview recorded live at SNIS (13:08). A link to download a transcript of the complete interview is also provided below.

Anne Staylor here with BioMedGPS. Today, I'm at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery annual meeting in Colorado. And I have the pleasure of speaking to William Mack, MD, who is the president of the SNIS. Dr. Mack, thank you for talking with me today.

William Mack, MD: Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.

The stroke systems of care have limited growth in the market for stroke and ischemic stroke thrombectomy devices. So, from your perspective, where do you think we're at right now in terms of advancing the stroke systems of care?

WM: I think we're fairly young in our advancement of the systems of care. I think we've done a very good job with the devices and the procedures. There's still some room to improve there, but we've done very well with that. The stroke systems of care, I think there's a lot of room still to go. We're starting to develop systems in different regions and different states, but there's not a uniform pathway for large vessel stroke patients that's consistent across the country or even consistent across regions. So, what we're really trying to do is implement pathways and policies that ensure that stroke patients get to the right place the first time.

And so, do you know how many states currently have stroke programs in place or initiatives?

WM: So, I would say about 15 to 20 states have good systems of care in place, either through advocacy or legislature or systems that the states have worked on.

What is the society doing to try and advance the stroke systems of care on a national level?

WM: So, we have a concerted effort where we're working with doctors in the society, teaming up with industry, and we're working both at the national level and at the state level towards implementing systems that ....

To download the complete transcript of the "Trends and Technologies in Stroke Care" interview with SNIS President Dr. William Mack, just click the button below.