
Neurovascular Disease and Comprehensive Stroke Center
The UCSF Neurovascular Disease and Comprehensive Stroke Center provides expert care to patients with cerebrovascular disease, or conditions involving the brain and its blood vessels. We treat patients both in the hospital and in our outpatient clinic.
Our inpatient service delivers emergency care to hospitalized patients with acute ischemic stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage and intracerebral hemorrhage of any cause, and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Patients may be transferred from other hospitals or admitted through the UCSF Emergency Department. After discharge, patients receive follow-up care in our outpatient stroke clinic or the Neurorecovery Clinic, or both.
Our outpatient clinic offers consultations for patients with an established or suspected cerebrovascular condition, such as ischemic stroke, brain aneurysm, intracerebral hemorrhage and vascular malformation. Patients receive an accurate diagnosis and treatment recommendations to prevent future strokes. Recommendations may include surgical procedures, medications and lifestyle changes. We also provide specialized care for pulsatile tinnitus from an expert team of specialists from relevant disciplines.
Interested patients may have access to experimental therapies by joining a clinical trial. Patients who've had strokes, for example, may be eligible to join the UCSF Stroke Recovery Initiative, a research program focused on improving the healing process after stroke.
Our team is proud of the recognition we've received for providing exceptional care. We're the first center in San Francisco to be designated a comprehensive stroke center by the Joint Commission, an independent national accreditation organization for health care institutions. In addition, two advocacy organizations, the Angioma Alliance and Cure HTT, have named UCSF a center of excellence for treating vascular abnormalities.
Our quality outcomes
We are dedicated to continually raising the bar on what exceptional neurovascular care means for our patients, and we work to ensure that outcomes for our patients reflect that. For example, we've maintained a stroke or mortality complication rate after an elective diagnostic angiogram of 0 percent in 2018 and 2019, our overall rate of elective aneurysm clipping and coiling complications remained 2 percent or lower, and we reported a complication rate for carotid revascularization procedures of 0 percent for both asymptomatic and symptomatic carotid stenosis in 2019.
Complications or In-Hospital Mortality After Diagnostic Angiogram | 2018 | 2019 |
24-hour stroke rate | 0% | 0% |
24-hour mortality rate | 0% | 0% |
In-Hospital Mortality After Elective Cerebral Aneurysm Clipping and Coiling | 2018 | 2019 |
Clipping | 3% | 2% |
Coiling | 0% |
1% |
Stroke or Death Within 30 Days After Carotid Revascularization Procedure |
2018 | 2019 |
Asymptomatic carotid disease | 2.30% | 0% |
Symptomatic carotid disease | 0% | 0% |
Our center is part of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences.
Our locations
Our team
Clinical trials
Awards & recognition
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Best hospital in Northern California
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Best in the West in neurology & neurosurgery
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Certified comprehensive stroke center
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Recognized for quality achievement in patient care
Support services
Plan your visit
What to Bring
- Photo I.D.
- Health insurance card
- Insurance authorization, if required
- Doctor's referral, if required
- Recent test results related to your condition
- List of your medications, including dosages, plus any you're allergic to
- List of questions you may have
- Device or paper for taking notes

International Services
If you live in another country and are coming to UCSF for medical
treatment, our patient liaisons can help coordinate all aspects of your visit.

Interpreters
UCSF offers language services at no charge for patients with limited
English, as well as for patients who are deaf or have trouble hearing.

Hospital Stays
Checking into the hospital? Find helpful information by clicking on the relevant “Your Hospital Stay” booklet: Mission Bay, Parnassus or Mount
Zion.

Your Doctor Visit
See our top 10 tips for making your UCSF doctor’s appointment as stress-free and productive as possible.
Learn moreOur research initiatives
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UCSF Department of Neurology Research
The UCSF Department of Neurology conducts research to improve understanding of neurological disorders, with the goals of finding better treatments and methods of prevention.