Neurology & Neurosurgery (see more articles like this)

Seventy-five year old Henry Wilhelmi became the first patient to receive a carotid stent at Florida Hospital since the device was approved by the FDA in late August.  Dr. Frank Hellinger performed the procedure which clears blocked arteries supplying the brain without major surgery.  Using techniques pioneered through years of intervention angiography specialists, doctors use the stent device in a minimally invasive angiographic procedure to clear and prop open the carotid arteries thereby re-establishing previously restricted blood flow. 

Carotid artery blockages can cause fatal or disabling strokes.  About 2.5 million people have carotid artery disease in the U.S. and 700,000 people each year have strokes, according to the American Heart Association.