Yolanda's story
Chronic subdural hematoma, middle meningeal artery embolization
'Stop the bleeding' saved Yolanda's life
After Yolanda fell and hit her head, after the splitting headaches and blurred vision, after the ambulance to the hospital, she remembers what Dr. Soliman Oushy told her.
"He said he needed to stop the bleeding," Yolanda recalls now.
She had suffered a subdural hematoma, or bleeding that collects between the brain and its outer layer. It had actually moved the midline of the brain toward one side of Yolanda's skull, creating abnormal pressure on the structures there.
Dr. Oushy, a neurosurgeon at Mayfield Brain & Spine, was able to drain and remove the hematoma in Yolanda's brain, reducing the pressure and giving her relief from the headaches and other symptoms.
Several weeks after arriving back home, Yolanda fell again, and she was back at The Christ Hospital. This time, Dr. Oushy and the medical team blocked a tiny blood vessel leading to the area where the brain was bleeding. Called an embolization of the middle meningeal artery, this emerging treatment allows a surgeon to cut off blood supply from the brain's outer layer, called the dura, to drain and remove the hematoma.
Dr. Oushy is part of the Mayfield team that specializes in treating neurovascular disorders, including brain aneurysms and strokes.
"Blocking the middle meningeal artery so it can't further feed the brain bleeding will be a critical element in Yolanda's recovery," Dr. Oushy says. "We were able to evacuate the subdural hematoma and follow with the embolization, which should help prevent recurrence."
Yolanda remembers all of the equipment attached to her and marvels at the process.
"It was a little intense that second time," she says now. "It was crazy. I joked that they had made me into a robot."
Yolanda's second surgery was among the first interventional neurovascular procedures at The Christ Hospital as it ramps up toward an interventional stroke program. Mayfield neurosurgeons have performed spine surgeries at the hospital for years, and they added brain tumor surgeries in the last decade. In mid-2025, they expanded the collaboration to include procedures treating blood vessels in the brain, including the MMA embolization.
Mayfield also performs these services at Good Samaritan Hospital, Bethesda North Hospital and The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health.
"Performing these life-saving interventions at The Christ Hospital expands the circle of care for our neurovascular program to treat more patients and improve more lives," Dr. Oushy says. "We look forward to developing our partnership to include the most complex procedures to treat the full range of disorders, including brain aneurysms and severe ischemic strokes."
Since her recovery, Yolanda has returned to her career as a nursing assistant. Looking back on the entire ordeal, she has a new perspective.
"I've been taking care of people my whole life. This is all I know," she says. "For this to happen to me, it just shows that things can happen to you at any time. It's amazing, the things they can do to save someone's life."
~ Cliff Peale
Hope Story Disclaimer -"Yolanda's Story" is about one patient's health-care experience. Please bear in mind that because every patient is unique, individual patients may respond to treatment in different ways. Results are influenced by many factors and may vary from patient to patient.
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