Bengaluru: The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience in the city treats five to ten patients daily with Ischemic stroke. The government-run Victoria Hospital sees 1-2 such patients every day.
Ischemic stroke is in layman’s terms, a ‘brain attack’, causing a blockage of blood to the brain that can lead to brain damage. This is worrying health experts, as patients who get this kind of stroke are not aware of the benefits of timely treatment. They aren’t even aware that it is a stroke!
“Patients do not immediately rush to stroke centres but they go to their family physician or a general physician or a nursing care centre if they have an ischemic stroke, thinking that it is nothing major. Sadly, by doing this they lose out on a lot of time,” says Dr G T Subhash, professor of Neurology at Bangalore Medical College who is also the president of Bangalore Stroke Support Group.
“Every second the person will lose around 30,000 neurons and hence a stroke-ready hospital or stroke unit where a CT Scan, neurologist and Thrombolytic therapy or clot-busting therapy is crucial and the person needs to be rushed for medical treatment without losing any time," says Dr Vikram Huded,Head of Interventional Neurology and stroke, Narayana hrudayalaya institute of Neuroscience. In the city 15 such hospitals have a dedicated Stroke centre with all required facilities.
Speaking about the key signals which clearly suggest that the person might be having a stroke, Dr Subhash adds, “A sudden speech problem or drooping of the face, weakness of arms and legs, sudden headache, difficulty in walking and giddiness without any reason are the key indicators suggesting immediate attention. Sadly, people feel that a good nap is the solution to these problems but the truth is nowhere close to it.”
Sadly, less than ten per cent of patients with such strokes seek medical help within 3 to 4 hours of such symptoms. “We get very rare timely cases. People should realise that stroke is preventable if treated on time -- the chances of remarkable recovery are also there if the patients waste no time and comes within four hours to us,” he said.
