"It was an ordinary morning for Stefan Reisch as he was driving to work when out of nowhere it seemed to hit. Rubbing his neck on the edge of passing out and feeling numbness on his left side Reisch didnt know what was happening. People were honking at me said the yearold California father of two. I was driving on the center divide going up and coming down. I felt like I was in a dream state until I finally ran off the road.  calls to police that morning reported a drunk driver on the road and when Reisch crashed the paramedics were quickly on the scene. First responders asked Reisch to smile and immediately recognized his drooping mouth as a sign of a stroke. At the hospital the firstline therapy a powerful bloodthinning medication called tissue plasminogen activator or tPA could not dissolve the blood clots in Reischs brain. So the doctors at the Comprehensive Stroke Center at the University of California San Diego tried an innovative approach called a stent retriever. Stent retriever therapy essentially captures the clot and pulls it out of the brain. A catheter is placed into a blood vessel in the groin and guided up into the brain through the blocked artery. Then a wire mesh opens grabbing onto and removing the blood clot while the patient is still having a stroke. Youre awake through the whole process and actually the doctors are telling you what to do. For Reisch the impact was almost immediate he began to regain feeling while undergoing the procedure. Youre awake through the whole process and actually the doctors are telling you what to do he told NBC News. Shortly after that he told me I could relax and that I did a good job and they had retrieved the clot and just to relax and I immediately started trying to move my arm. A patient will come in they cant speak they cant move half their body says neurosurgeon Dr. J Mocco of Mt. Sinai Health System New York. They are destined to be in a nursing home or to be dead and when we reestablish blood flow  often times right there on the table  they get better. Stent retriever therapy is a new procedure experts call the most major advance in stroke treatment in two decades. In April the journal Radiology published findings that highlight the added importance of removing clots in a timely manner. Researchers examined data on patients treated with both tissue plasminogen activator tPA the standard in stroke treatment and stent retrievers and found that restoration of blood flow within . hours of stroke onset was associated with minimal or no disability in  percent of patients. Roughly  people suffer a stroke every year in the United States and its the fifth highest cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability according to the American Heart Association. The earlier that patients with acute ischemic stroke get to a hospital offering the appropriate treatment the higher the likelihood is of a good outcome. For more than  years an injection of tPA which dissolves the clot and improves blood flow to the affected part of the brain has been the standard care for stroke patients. The intravenous drug is very effective for smaller clots but it often fails to break up larger clots and is usually most effective when given within . hours after the first symptoms. The earlier that patients with acute ischemic stroke get to a hospital offering the appropriate treatment the higher the likelihood is of a good outcome said the studys lead author Dr. Mayank Goyal of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary.  Injured skier rescued by French police helicopter in dramatic video https Currently stent retriever therapy is offered in just a few hundred hospitals across the country including more than  Comprehensive Stroke Centers accredited by the American Heart Association and The Joint Commission. The new research provides more evidence of the need for new regional centers of care in order to minimize the time it takes to transport a patient to hospital capable of providing stent therapy according to Dr. William J. Powers of the American Heart Association.  The American Heart Association has a select list of some of the comprehensive stroke centers in the U.S. httpnews.heart.orgstentsforstroketextonly Experts strongly encourage anyone experiencing stroke symptoms such as a facial droop numbness weakness blurry vision or speech difficulty to call  immediately. When it comes to a stroke time is of the essence and according to the National Stroke Association using the FAST approach can help one determine the warning signs. F  FACE Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop A  ARMS Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward S  SPEECH Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Is their speech slurred or strange T  TIME If you observe any of these signs call  immediately."