MORTALITY AND MORBIDITY OF STROKE.

The medical term, Cerebrovascular accident is exactly, in common man's term, " Stroke". You all know that the stroke is caused by

1. A blockage in the artery by blood clots in the brain.

2. Or by bleeding through a broken blood vessel in the brain.

In both cases, some nerve cells will die due to a lack of oxygen in the brain.

FIVE WARNINGS OF STROKE.

1.Sudden numbness or weakness in the face, arm, or leg( especially on one side of the body).

2. Sudden confusion or trouble in speaking or understanding speech.

3. Sudden vision problem in one or both eyes.

4. Sudden difficulty in walking or dizziness(chakkar), loss of balance, or problems with coordination.

5. Severe headache with no known cause.

GOLDEN HOURS OF TREATMENT.

The above signs will give a common man an idea, how to identify a stroke. The patient should be taken immediately to a hospital, where there is a facility for a C.T. scan to confirm, it is an ischemic stroke(by blockage)and not hemorrhagic (by bleeding). The treatment is comparatively simple in the first three golden hours by Thrombolytic therapy. Tissue plasminogen activator(tPA)is the only stroke drug, which is injected into the vein, so it can get to the blood clot quickly to dissolve it, thereby limiting damage and disability. Mortality or a prolonged morbidity of Stroke is controlled by this emergency treatment. I have seen cent percent cure in many cases by effective Thrombolytic therapy in our Institute. It is unfortunate that ill-equipped hospitals do not direct the stroke patients to hospitals where these facilities are available. The bitter truth is that many small hospitals survive by conservative management of stroke and a long rehabilitation process which may last for three to six months or even one year for a partial cure, leaving residual disabilities.

Thank you.