Jerome Hiers, June 2024
Who would have thought that Jerome Hiers, a 64-year-old Stony Brook University Hospital lab technician, whose team had collaborated with David Fiorella, MD, PhD, on the development of a new procedure to treat an often-misdiagnosed condition, would end up having his own life saved by the very same procedure developed at Stony Brook!
On Friday morning, March 25, 2022, Jerome, who’d recently experienced a lot of fatigue and bad headaches, was feeling a bit off as he walked into work. The next thing he knew, he collapsed, and was rushed over to the hospital’s Emergency Department.
Dr. Fiorella, the Principal Investigator (PI) of the clinical trial for this groundbreaking new procedure, took a look at Jerome’s CT scan and immediately realized that Jerome had what’s called a chronic subdural hematoma (cSDH). Blood that escaped from a blood vessel in Jerome’s brain had led to the formation of a blood clot in the space between his skull and brain. It was placing pressure there, causing Jerome’s symptoms and contributing to the risk for further damage. This condition often afflicts older people and is sometimes mistaken for dementia. Over time, and given its chronic nature, it can gradually impair a person’s quality of life.
In the past, the only treatment available for cSDH was a craniotomy (holes drilled into the skull and skull parts removed to alleviate pressure on the brain). However, the risk for reoccurrence using that method of treatment is often high. The minimally invasive new procedure pioneered by Dr. Fiorella, and known as a middle meningeal artery embolization (MMAE), treats the clot without drilling into the skull. Instead, it uses a specialized fluid that’s injected into the targeted arteries through a micro catheter (a small, thin tube used to pass medical devices and medicines).
Within just a few weeks of his minimally invasive MMAE procedure, all of Jerome’s neurological symptoms vanished. He completed his one-year clinical trial follow up in March 2023, and for two years now, he’s been walking, doing yard work… you name it!
In Jerome’s professional life, there have been many times when his work ethic has been as a lifesaver to his research team colleagues. But the way Jerome sees it, there’s only one person who truly merits the distinction of lifesaver. And that’s Dr. Fiorella.
