Penn Stroke Center
Rapid response and comprehensive stroke treatment
At Penn Medicine, stroke care is a collaborative effort that often starts before patients reach the hospital. Emergency responders are trained to begin life-saving treatments in the ambulance and notify hospital staff in advance, ensuring they’re prepared to provide immediate care. Rapid intervention can significantly reduce or even reverse stroke damage.
Stroke treatment and rehabilitation are complex, requiring a specialized team. Our expert neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, vascular neurosurgeons, cardiologists, interventional neuroradiologists, psychiatrists, nurses, care managers, and rehab specialists work closely to create customized care plans for each patient.
Certified Stroke Centers
The Penn Stroke Centers are committed to being leaders providing a high-quality, safe stroke care. Our team includes highly skilled neurologists, neurosurgeons, and emergency medicine providers who work together to administer excellent patient care and improve recovery. Our hospitals are recognized by both The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations for leading stroke care and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Get With The Guidelines® for stroke care.
- The Penn Stroke Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized by The Joint Commission as a Comprehensive Stroke Center, recognized for evaluating and evolving the care our patients receive. This is the highest level of certification for hospitals with specific abilities to receive and treat the most complex stroke cases. We are recognized by the American Heart Association as Stroke Gold Plus Achievement and Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus and Advanced Therapy.
- Lancaster General Hospital is recognized by The Joint Commission as a Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center, recognized for meeting rigorous standards for performing endovascular thrombectomy and providing post-procedural care. In addition, we are recognized by the American Heart Association as Stroke Gold Plus Achievement and Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus.
Our other Joint Commission-Certified Primary Stroke Centers are:
- Chester County Hospital, recognized by the American Heart Association as Stroke Gold Plus Achievement
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Doylestown Health, recognized by the American Heart Association as Stroke Gold Plus Achievement and designated as a Stroke Resource Center
- Penn Medicine Princeton Health, recognized by the American Heart Association as Stroke Gold Plus Achievement
- Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, recognized by the American Heart Association as Stroke Gold Plus Achievement and Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite
- Pennsylvania Hospital, recognized by the American Heart Association as Stroke Gold Plus Achievement and Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite
Why does being a Comprehensive Stroke Center matter?
Joint Commission-certified Comprehensive Stroke Centers are required to have:
- A dedicated neurocritical care unit
- A high volume of stroke cases
- A system that optimizes the benefits of carotid artery procedures
- Advanced resources for the acute treatment of stroke patients available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Advanced neurodiagnostic tools
- Advanced practice nurses
- Certified vascular neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuroradiologists, and vascular surgeons
- Participation in stroke research
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
The Penn Stroke Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania has been named a Comprehensive Stroke Center by The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. It was the first hospital in Philadelphia to receive this certification. This level of certification recognizes the significant resources in staff and training that comprehensive stroke centers must have 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year to treat complex stroke cases.
Our goal is to educate every patient and their family about strokes. We provide educational materials during their hospital stay, covering essential topics such as:
- When to call Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
- The importance of follow-up care after leaving the hospital
- Understanding new medications
- Recognizing symptoms and warning signs of a stroke
By providing post-stroke care, we aim to help them understand their condition, manage new medications, and take steps to prevent future strokes.
For ischemic stroke patients needing mechanical thrombectomy, “door-to-puncture” is the time from when they arrive at the hospital to when a vein artery in the groin or wrist is accessed for treatment. The quicker this happens, the better the chances for recovery. Efficient stroke care, streamlined protocols, and smooth transitions to the operating room—along with strong coordination with other hospitals—all help ensure timely treatment.
The high percentage of ischemic stroke patients who receive mechanical thrombectomy indicates how effectively we can remove clots and restore blood flow. Our skilled team often unblocks blood vessels within 120 minutes, which significantly improves recovery and outcomes.
When a patient arrives at the hospital, our goal is to restore blood flow to the brain as quickly as possible. This process, called recanalization, happens through a surgical procedure known as mechanical thrombectomy. Research shows that patients who receive this treatment within 90 minutes have a better chance of making a successful recovery. By getting patients into the operating room quickly, we can improve their chances of recovery and overall outcomes.
The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania’s certification as a Comprehensive Stroke Center is evidence of our success in implementing the highest Joint Commission standards required to provide complex stroke care, according to nationally accepted standards and guidelines. We take this responsibility seriously and publicly report our quality outcomes. We encourage you to look at these outcomes, which reflect how well we take care of our patients and demonstrate our ongoing commitment to delivering highly effective care—every time.
- The Comprehensive Stroke Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania completes carotid endarterectomy and carotid stents. The aggregate complication rate of those who are symptomatic and asymptomatic is 0.4% for FY 24.
- Two faculty members have received the American Academy of Neurology Michael Pessin Stroke Leadership Award. This prestigious national award recognizes neurologists who have demonstrated a passion for learning and expanding the field of stroke research.
Lancaster General Hospital
Lancaster General Hospital is recognized for its exceptional stroke care. It’s certified as a Joint Commission Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center and our stroke team consistently earns the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines - Stroke Gold Plus and Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Quality Achievement Award. The award, according to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, “recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.”
The data highlights important metrics related to stroke treatment. We use this data to continuously improve our treatment protocols and positive outcomes.
A stroke caused by a large blood clot has the greatest chance of causing disability or even death. Lancaster General Hospital is the first and only hospital in Lancaster County to perform mechanical thrombectomy, an advanced procedure for physically retrieving a blood clot from a brain vessel. Specially trained doctors use a catheter inserted through an artery in the groin or wrist to send a wire-caged device called a stent retriever to the site of the blocked vessel in the brain. At Lancaster General Hospital, we have procedure rooms dedicated exclusively for stroke care.
Removing a clot from the brain right away provides the best chance for a complete recovery. Having this procedure here in Lancaster eliminates the need to transport a patient to another facility out of the county for stroke treatment.
Most strokes are ischemic, meaning they’re caused by a blockage of blood flow. The approved treatment for ischemic stroke patients that arrive at the hospital within three hours of their symptoms starting is a clot-busting medication called tenecteplase (TNK). The faster a patient receives treatment with TNK, the more likely they are to have a good recovery from their stroke. Because this treatment is time sensitive, we aim to treat as many patients as safely possible within 45 minutes of their arrival in the emergency department.
Some ischemic strokes are caused by a blood clot blocking one of the large arteries in the head or neck. In cases where the clot is large and visible, we offer a procedure called thrombectomy, which involves advancing a wire from the artery in the patient’s groin to the clot in the head or neck to remove it and open the blocked artery. This procedure is proven to reduce disability after a severe stroke. This treatment is time sensitive. The faster a patient gets started with the procedure, the faster their stroke is treated. We track the time from patient arrival in the emergency department to groin puncture as a measure of our performance and aim to achieve 90 minutes or faster.
The gold standard for measuring functional outcome after a stroke is based on a scale called the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Each patient receives a score 90 days after their stroke. Lower scores on the scale are correlated with functional independence, whereas scores higher than two are associated with greater disability. Our goal is to have a high percentage of patients with low scores, meaning, they return to a good level of function within 90 days after stroke.
Having a stroke is a new experience for most of our patients. Our goal is to provide education to every patient and family that suffers from a stroke. This helps our patients understand their stroke, new medications, and ways to prevent another stroke in the future.
We survey our patients after they leave the hospital and ask them to rank their stroke care. Reviews are based on rankings provided by about 800 patients per year. For calendar year 2025, the overall score for Lancaster General Hospital was 4.72 out of 5 stars.
Rehabilitation and support for stroke patients
Stroke rehabilitation is available on an inpatient, outpatient, or at-home basis, and may include:
- Physical therapy to increase strength, coordination, and motor skills
- Speech therapy to regain speech and swallowing abilities and learn food preparation techniques
- Occupational therapy to help relearning daily skills like walking, dressing, and driving
Related articles
Individuals with a head injury have higher stroke risk
The rate of stroke was 34 percent higher in individuals who experienced at least one head injury than in their peers with no head injury.
Lancaster General Health earns advanced stroke certification
The program achieved the Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center certification by the Joint Commission and designation as a provider of advanced stroke care.