DECATUR - The animation looked like something out of "2001: A Space Odyssey." The device deftly snaked its way through a tunnel until it came upon the large red orb that seemed to glow there, creating an impasse. But the apparatus maneuvered past, spilling out a coil that pulled back on the orb, ensnaring it and drawing it backward through the channel.

This scene did not come from some obscure fringe of the galaxy. As Dr. Baljit Deol, Decatur Memorial Hospital's section chief of interventional radiology, played the demonstration on a computer screen, he depicted a real, lifesaving procedure inside the human brain that occurs regularly at the hospital.

Deol came to DMH a little more than a year ago, bringing with him skills to treat stroke that did not exist in Central Illinois outside of Peoria. Deol and an interdisciplinary team of stroke experts deliver targeted treatments, working against time to reduce the debilitating aftereffects of stroke.

During an ischemic stroke, one in which an artery to the brain is blocked, Deol is able to go to the site of the offending clot and remove it with the help of a device called the Merci Retrieval System. Using sophisticated imaging technology to monitor his progress, Deol and his team thread a catheter through a large blood vessel in the groin until they get to the site of the problem. Once there, they slow blood flow to the area and work to clear the vessel.

Another available treatment is tPA, or tissue plasminogen activator, a medication that breaks down clots. When given within 12 hours of the stroke's onset, the blood-thinning medication can dissolve a clot and rescue crucial parts of the brain, Deol said.

Two to three hours after that time frame, the Merci Retrieval is an option.

Louise Kennedy, a registered nurse and clinical manager of interventional radiology, said her role on the team is making sure the people, equipment and facility are ready to treat stroke within 30 minutes at any time. She also works as the family liaison during the procedures.

"I'll watch the procedure, and then I'll go back and let the family know how things are going," Kennedy said. "I take that opportunity to educate them about stroke and hopefully help a friend, a neighbor, anybody to get in here early if they should notice any signs of stroke or suspect that they may be having a stroke."

The team's protocols to ensure timely treatment begin with educating hospital staff who notice signs of a stroke to page the neurologist on call and Kelly Hall, a certified neuroscience registered nurse and stroke nurse coordinator for DMH's stroke team. This sets the team in motion.

"Once the patient comes to the floor, either following tPA or if they're not a candidate they'll usually come up to our floor, then I basically follow the patient throughout their stay," Hall said. "I'll make sure they get the appropriate education for their individual risk factors."

Ann Dickens, director the hospital's surgical nursing unit and a nurse for 25 years, remembered feeling helpless as a new nurse when she was bringing a man back from a test and witnessed him having a stroke. Current technologies and treatments were not available at that time, so all that could be done was administer medication to combat, watch and wait. Now, she said, the treatments make for more hopeful patient outcomes.

If a patient is not a candidate for the emergency treatments, either because of the type of stroke or timing, the team's rehabilitation experts help patients improve as much as possible, rehabilitation manager Tonya Bowrey said. Physical, occupational and speech therapists work toward the goals of mobility, self care and returning home, she said.

After meeting for a year to establish the protocols, the stroke team's next goal is to educate the community about its capabilities and services so people can make it to the hospital on time for treatment. The team recently visited St. Luke's Hospital stroke center in Kansas City, Mo., and came out of the experience feeling confident about the strides it has made in the past year.

The stroke center at DMH is part of the development of a comprehensive clinical neurosciences department, said Dr. Oliver Dold, neurosurgeon and director of clinical neurosciences at DMH,

"The idea there is, if all these groups are together working closer instead of in separate departments doing their own thing, then we can combine forces to elevate the standard of care and provide a higher level of service to the community," Dold said.

The next development in the department will likely be in the realm of pain management, he said.

"We've had dramatic successes here already," Deol said of the work the stroke team has done. "We had one gentleman who was here from Michigan for a wedding, and his whole right carotid was blocked off completely, so there was no blood going to the right side of his brain. With the combination of stents, the retrieval device and the blood-thinning medication tPA, we were able to let him walk out."

"He made it to the reception," Kennedy said.

"And if he didn't come to our hospital," Deol added, "he would have died."

Annie Getsinger can be reached at agetsinger@herald-review.com or 421-6968.