A Miraculous Recovery: Young Mother and Baby Survive Severe Stroke Against All Odds

Chiara, a pseudonym, is 27 years old and a young mother in her twelfth week of pregnancy. She arrives at the Mare Hospital in Naples with worrying symptoms: mild paralysis on the left side and difficulty moving her limbs. Chiara is alert but visibly shaken. From there, the decision was made to immediately proceed with an MRI of the brain and blood vessels. The diagnosis was immediate: ongoing ischemia, caused by the complete occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery. Chiara, followed by the neurologist Donato Colella from her arrival in the emergency room, showed a rapid and sharp worsening of symptoms after the MRI. Considering the progression of the clinical picture, after a brief consultation, the doctors decided to transfer the young patient to the Complex Operative Unit of Neuroradiology directed by Dr. Vincenzo D'Agostino for an urgent mechanical thrombectomy procedure. At that point, the mother and child were entrusted to the hands of the neuroradiologists Valeria Piscitelli and Fabrizio Fasano, who, with the assistance of the anesthesiologists Giovanni Gallo, Angelo Affinito, and the collaboration of the team composed of rsm radiology technicians and nurses, successfully performed the mechanical thrombectomy of the closed cerebral vessel. 'According to medical literature, the patient had a 50% chance of not surviving, a 90% chance of suffering a severe disability, and an 80% chance of losing the baby - the doctors emphasize - instead, both of them made it.' After several days of hospitalization, first in the Complex Operative Unit of Neurology directed by Dr. Vincenzo Palma, then in the Complex Operative Unit of Anesthesia and Resuscitation directed by Dr. Ciro Fittipaldi, and later in the Stroke Unit, Chiara was discharged, with almost complete recovery of the neurological deficit and the pregnancy is still proceeding regularly. 'An extraordinary story that ended in the best way thanks to excellent teamwork and the commitment of all the staff, starting from the emergency room,' says the general manager Ciro Verdoliva.