NEW YORK—Mount Sinai Health System has launched the first eye stroke service in New York City to expedite the diagnosis and treatment of patients who arrive at the emergency room with eye stroke—a medical emergency that must be addressed as quickly as possible to prevent irreversible vision loss. To expedite care, Mount Sinai’s Department of Ophthalmology installed optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems at four emergency departments in the Mount Sinai Health System, an integrated health care system providing medical care primarily in the New York City area.

The four sites—The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai West, and Mount Sinai Queens—have large emergency rooms and stroke teams. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE) also has this capability.
 
They are the only sites in New York City equipped with advanced high-resolution imaging systems to rapidly detect eye stroke. These, along with new communication and treatment protocols between emergency medicine physicians, ophthalmologists, and the stroke service, allow patients to have an urgent procedure to preserve their vision within a few hours (or less) of arriving at the hospital.
 
Richard B. Rosen, MD, chief of the retina service for the Mount Sinai Health System, said, “Eye stroke is one of the most urgent eye conditions and there’s a small window of opportunity for treatment to prevent blindness. Mount Sinai is proud to offer this innovative service designed to ensure patients get immediate treatment to save their vision. This is a critical service the New York region has needed for a long time.”
 
“Patients need to know that if you wake up with vision loss in one eye, go to a Mount Sinai Health System emergency room immediately. Our ability to restore vision from an eye stroke is extremely time-sensitive. The day after is unfortunately too late. If the cause is something other than a stroke, we will send the patients to one of our ophthalmologists for appropriate care,” Dr. Rosen said.
 
To learn more, click on this video link.