HEALTH
A new, special large-scale radiology device has been in use at the Landstrasse Clinic since Friday. It offers stroke patients in particular better chances of survival and recovery because clots are detected more quickly.
The new system provides 3D images from different perspectives, so you can track down a blood clot faster and better. “With this system, we always have two simultaneous images of the brain from the front and from the side, so we don’t need to rotate the system during the procedure and we can find and treat the blocked vessel more quickly,” explained Rüdiger Schernthaner, head of radiology at the Landstrasse Clinic, in “Vienna Today”.
The Landstrasse Clinic is one of the three stroke centers in Vienna and has been carrying out acute cerebral thrombectomies, which is the removal of blood clots from the brain, since 2011. According to Elisabeth Fertl, head of neurology at Klink Landstrasse, “five to ten percent of all patients with acute cerebral vascular occlusions need this treatment very quickly, within 24 hours of the onset of the illness.”
1.3 million euros invested
The city of Vienna has invested around 1.3 million euros for the new large device – regardless of the pressure to save money that is weighing on the Vienna budget, according to City Councilor for Health Peter Hacker (SPÖ): “There are areas where you can save money, where the effects are not so serious. The potential for savings in the health system is very low because I am not prepared to make major cuts at the expense of quality or employees.”
A total of over 600 stroke patients are treated at the Landstrasse Clinic every year. The radiological institutes in the Vienna Health Association provided a total of over 536,000 radiological services to 204,000 patients in 2024.
