According to the CDC, strokes are the cause of one out of every 19 deaths in the United States each year, with ischemic strokes caused by blood clots blocking flow to the brain making up 85 percent of all stroke cases. Recent medical advances have allowed doctors more range than ever before in treating the neurological ailment, but their effectiveness hinges on the publics awareness of them.
Methodist West Houston Hospital aims to gain ground on the battle against strokes this Thursday, May 23, with a stroke risk factor screening and seminar led by neurologist Dr. Mohammad Al Baeer, a diplomat of the American Board of Neurology.
With strokes, time is of the essence when it comes to treatment. Its symptoms dizziness, loss of coordination, weakness, numbness, impaired vision and speech come on rapidly, and kill millions of nerve cells each minute. Many stroke victims dont even realize whats happened until its already too late, Al Baeer said.
They think theyre just tired [or] they think its something because of high blood sugar or whatever, and they sleep over their symptoms, Al Baeer said. Then they come the next morning and recount the symptoms, and we find that they had a stroke. After 12 to 24 hours, theres really not much to do other than prevent the second stroke.
Therein lies the problem, according to Al Baeer. Even if a patient has none of the risk factors associated with strokes high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, physical inactivity or heavy alcohol or tobacco use once theyve suffered one stroke, their likelihood of suffering another stroke triples.
Fortunately, there have been a number of strides made in stroke treatment in recent times. High blood pressure a risk factor that increases the likelihood of a stroke 12-fold can now be managed by a wider variety of medications than in the past. So if a patient reacts adversely to one medicine, they have other options to choose from rather than remain unprotected.
But if the symptoms of a stroke have already begun, medication and technology now exist that significantly reduce the strokes damage, provided a patient gets to a hospital within a several hour window of time. Al Baeer references tPA, a type of thrombolytic or clot-busting medication.
This medication [tPA] actually is kind of revolutionary in stroke management, Al Baeer said. We had two patients last night that could not talk, that were half paralyzed. They came at the right time, and we gave them the clot-busting medication. Theres like 90 percent improvement thats significant.
As with all medicines, there are bound to be some people whose systems are incompatible with clot-busting medications. In this case, a minimally invasive surgical procedure can remove the blood clot directly from the brain with a micro-catheter.
Yet still, the best weapon against a stroke is a healthy lifestyle Al Baeer said, hence the stroke screening on Thursday, which will consist of a blood pressure measurement and cholesterol check.
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Methodist West Houston hosting stroke screening and awareness seminar