Mayfield Partners with St. Elizabeth Healthcare to Expand Stroke and Brain Tumor Care

Edgewood, Kentucky— Mayfield Brain & Spine, the region's largest independent neurosurgical physician group, is expanding its clinical partnership with St. Elizabeth Healthcare to provide more complex interventional stroke and brain tumor services in Northern Kentucky.

"We are proud to expand our partnership with one of the most respected neurosurgical physician groups in the country," said Gary Blank, Chief Operating Officer for St. Elizabeth Healthcare. "St. Elizabeth will soon offer the full complement of advanced treatments for stroke patients in the region, including endovascular surgery."

Andrew Ringer, MD, a Mayfield neurosurgeon specializing in endovascular surgery, will lead the St. Elizabeth interventional stroke program. "We look forward to working collaboratively with the entire stroke team at St. Elizabeth to expand and improve this service," said Dr. Ringer, who earned his fellowship in endovascular surgery at the University of Buffalo and is the Board Chair of Mayfield Brain & Spine. "By adding interventional stroke care to St. Elizabeth Edgewood, we can save more lives and reduce the incidence of debilitating stroke symptoms."

Mayfield Brain & Spine has also added Craig Kilburg, MD, to work closely with Dr. Ringer within the St. Elizabeth stroke program.

The expanded service will allow St. Elizabeth Healthcare to provide interventional endovascular services, such as endovascular thrombectomy, a specialized surgical procedure involving the removal of a blood clot from the brain during an acute ischemic stroke. Studies have shown thrombectomy to be the most effective treatment for saving lives and minimizing the risk of disability.

"Endovascular thrombectomy is an advanced procedure that gives us the ability to preserve life and function—from speech and sight, to motion and mobility—for patients who have a specific type of stroke," Dr. Ringer said. "By having immediate access to advanced diagnostics and an endovascular surgeon, we can make a dramatic difference for patients with stroke—in their recoveries and their lives."

Mayfield is dedicated to advancing brain, spine and stroke care and is a national leader in medical research for new and innovative treatment methods. Dr. Ringer took part in two studies published in 2018 that found that patients who had suffered an ischemic stroke many hours earlier did better if their clot was removed with a retrieval device than if they were treated with medication alone.

At St. Elizabeth, Mayfield endovascular neurosurgeons will work collaboratively with a team of neurologists and neuroradiologists to provide comprehensive stroke care. James Farrell, MD, a neurologist with Riverhills Neuroscience, will continue as the Medical Director for Stroke Services at St. Elizabeth. The St. Elizabeth Edgewood facility will serve as an advanced stroke center and provide support to the St. Elizabeth facilities in Florence, Ft. Thomas, Covington, and Grant. St. Elizabeth will work with The Joint Commission to elevate the Stroke Center designation at Edgewood from a Primary Stroke Center to a Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center.

Tony Hyott, Assistant Vice President of Orthopaedics, Neurosciences and Administrative Affairs at St. Elizabeth Healthcare said, "Our vision at St. Elizabeth Healthcare is to lead Northern Kentucky to be one of the healthiest communities in America. To continue to bring that vision to life, we are partnering with one of the national leaders in neurosurgical care. With our current infrastructure, resources and facility, we were almost fully prepared to work with Mayfield. This means we'll be able to come online quicker and maximize our resources that are already in place without a significant increase in overhead. We're proud that we will bring more comprehensive neuroscience care to Northern Kentucky."

As part of the expanded clinical partnership, Mayfield, St. Elizabeth Healthcare, and St. Elizabeth Physicians are collaborating to enhance the diagnosis and treatment of adult patients with primary and metastatic brain tumors. The team includes physician and nurse specialists in neurosurgery, medical neuro-oncology, radiation oncology, and neuro-pathology. Its members include a fellowship-trained neuro-oncologist. This partnership gives patients and their loved ones a broader support staff to assure they receive the care they need.

The neurosurgical spine and brain tumor portions of this program are led by Mayfield's Steven Bailey, MD, Tann Nichols, MD, and Bradbury Skidmore, MD.

"Our goal is to provide access to advanced neurosurgical services to the entire Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky region and beyond," said Mayfield Chief Executive Officer Mark Farrington. "Through partnerships with leading hospital systems, such as St. Elizabeth, we are able to bring more complex and comprehensive neurosurgical services to our patients, in the communities where they live."

About St. Elizabeth Healthcare

St. Elizabeth Healthcare operates five facilities throughout Northern Kentucky and more than 115 primary care and specialty office locations in Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. St. Elizabeth is sponsored by the Diocese of Covington and is a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. St. Elizabeth is a mission-based organization committed to improving the health of the communities it serves, providing approximately $100 million in uncompensated care and benefit to the community in 2016. For more information, visit StElizabeth.com.

About Mayfield Brain & Spine

Mayfield Brain & Spine is the full-service patient care provider of the Mayfield Clinic, one of the nation's leading physician organizations for neurosurgical treatment, education, and research. With 25 physicians and more than 30 supporting providers in neurosurgery, interventional neuroradiology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and physical therapy, Mayfield Brain & Spine treats 25,000 patients from more than 30 states in a typical year. Mayfield physicians specialize in the treatment of back and neck pain, sciatica, Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, NPH, epilepsy, brain and spinal tumors, stroke, moyamoya, brain aneurysms, Chiari malformation, scoliosis, kyphosis, facial pain, facial twitch, trauma, concussion, spinal cord injury, and carpal tunnel. As leading innovators in their field, Mayfield physicians have pioneered surgical procedures and instrumentation that have revolutionized the medical art of neurosurgery for spinal diseases and disorders, brain tumors, and neurovascular diseases and disorders.