John Hunter Hospital is the referral centre for neurovascular emergencies throughout the Hunter New England and North Coast districts. The neurointerventional service established 5 years ago has become one of the busiest in the State and involved in several pioneering trials to improve the care of patients presenting with severe neurovascular disease.
Neurointervention represents the cutting edge of medical technology, improving outcomes of patients suffering conditions previously frequently deemed incurable. When I began my career in neurology, thrombolysis was the only proven treatment for severe ischaemic stroke. It seemed clear that a more active approach to managing stroke was destined to be the future in improving outcomes.
I undertook an interventional neuroradiology fellowship after my clinical stroke fellowship to train in neurointerventional techniques, and I have been pursuing research in interventional stroke treatment over the past years. Several randomised trials have recently proven the efficacy of interventional treatment of stroke, and further research aims to improve this technique further and to establish systems allowing improved access to such therapies.
Establishing neurointerventional treatment of neurovascular disease as an accessible service that saves lives, and prevents disability, particularly in patients presenting with severe strokes or suffering from subarachnoid hemorrhage related complications such as delayed cerebral vasospasm.
Dr Miteff trained as clinical neurologist in Auckland and pursued a career in management of neurovascular conditions, completing fellowships in stroke neurology (Newcastle) and interventional neuroradiolgy (Sydney). He established the neurointerventional service at John Hunter Hospital in 2012 and been involved in several research aspects of this sub-specialty.
Clinical and interventional neurologist
