Dr. Aaron Lo

Every day I come to work at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH). I see patients in urgent need of life-saving care and treatment.

A little while ago, 65-year-old Dave came into our Emergency Department (ED) complaining of weakness in his arm and difficulty speaking. A CT scan of his head showed he’d suffered a series of mini strokes.

We quickly performed a vascular ultrasound which immediately diagnosed the problem. Dave had a tight narrowing in his carotid artery which was restricting blood flow to his brain. That’s when my colleagues called me. As a vascular surgeon at OTMH, it’s my job to fix the problem as quickly as possible and prevent Dave from having another — potentially deadly — stroke.

I wasted no time getting Dave into the Operating Room where I opened his artery, cleared the blockage, and dramatically reduced his risk of having a future stroke.

That surgery may ultimately have saved Dave’s life. But before I could even think about operating, we needed a quick and accurate diagnosis. And, thanks to our high-quality ultrasound machine, that’s exactly what we got.

In fact, I depend on ultrasounds to help diagnose and monitor many life-threatening vascular problems including abdominal aneurysms and blockages in veins and arteries. The test is fast, non-invasive and provides us with the immediate information we need to make vital treatment decisions.