Written By: Bhavyajyoti Chilukoti | Published : October 30, 2014 7:51 PM IST
World Stroke Day is observed on 29th of October.
Stroke and Neurovascular Interventions Foundation has initiated a campaign to strive against stroke on the World stroke day. Declared as a public health emergency by World Stroke Organization (WSO), millions of people all over the world are suffering from stroke. According to statistical reports, one in six people will have a stroke in their lifetime and this figure might increase with time, especially in countries like India. This is because, changing lifestyle, urbanization, stress, smoking, excess intake of salt and alchol puts an individual at an increased risk of stroke.
Dr. Vipul Gupta Head, Neurointerventional Surgery, Medanta and one of the founder of the 'Stroke and Neurovascular Interventions Foundation' says, 'The increase in numbers of deaths due to stroke is majorly due to lack of awareness. With early symptoms of stroke named as 'FAST' one can recognize the condition immediately and might save the person from further health consequences. In FAST, F stands for face drooping, A stands for weakness in arms, S reminds the sign of difficulty in speaking and T signifies time to call for hospital emergency. Apart from these there are other symptoms that are commonly seen in people namely trouble in understanding, severe headache, dizziness, numbness in leg.' Once the symptoms are recognized the person should be immediately taken to a hospital particularly stroke centres for treatment.
He further said that if a patient comes in first few hours (4.5 hrs), clot busting drug (t-PA) is the first medicine that is given. Neurointevention technique uses special devices to remove blood clot and restore the blood flow, thereby helping the brain to recover. The intervention can be done upto 8-hours and by these modern treatment methods patients have better chance to recover after stroke.
There might be many questions striking the mind when it comes to treatment options available for stroke. Dr. Vipul Gupta answered few questions on Neurovascular Interventions which are listed below.
1. How these techniques help in early treatment of stroke?
When a person suffers from stroke, some brain cells die immediately but the surrounding tissue can still be revived. This zone which is called as "penumbra' is supplied with blood that keeps these cells alive, although it is not enough for them to perform the function. By giving IV t-PA drug or through neuro-interventional techniques, the blood supply to the 'penumbra' zone can be restored thereby aiding in the recovery from stroke.
2. What are the risk factors involved? Are there any health complications associated with it?
These procedures carry a small risk of bleeding in the brain, but studies have shown that the overall rate of survival patients or recovery with these treatment methods is far better.
3. How effective are these techniques in dealing with stroke?
It is dependent on the severity of the condition and the treatment that is employed to treat the patient. Based on the selection criteria (that depends on many factors), the patients are selected for treatment. And among the selected ones, around 50% of the patients have a good chance of recovery.
4. What is the cost of the treatment ?
The intravenous tissue type plasminogen activator (IVtPA) procedure used to treat stroke costs around 50-90 thousand, while intervention techniques cost about Rs. 2 lakhs.
Dr. Vipul Gupta said that with the help of modern intervention techniques and spreading awareness among people and medical community, it is possible to reverse stroke and decrease the death rate.
Image Source: Getty Images
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