Stroke: Recognize and prevent

About 50% of people with stroke (stroke) have hypertension. But if blood pressure is reduced by 5 mmHg, the risk of stroke will be reduced by 10%.

Ms. Hoang A. 44 years old, weighing 63kg, living at Nguyen Kiem Street, Phu Nhuan District-Ho Chi Minh City, at 4:30 am while going to the toilet, she suddenly numbed on the left half, then collapsed. She was quickly brought into the hospital by her family at 5:10, and she was diagnosed with a right hemisphere brain infarction.

Meanwhile, another 64-year-old male patient, weighing 60kg, resided on the road of Xo Viet Nghe Tinh, Binh Thanh district, suffered from hypertension for many years, had continuous drug treatment. At 1425 minutes on September 15, 2005, when he was working, he felt tired, blushed, then abruptly collapsed, said gimmick and was quickly taken to emergency at 1455 minutes and was diagnosed with cerebral infarction, Hypertension, dyslipidemia.

The above are some fatal strokes . Stroke, or stroke is a common term for damage to a part of the brain.

More than 80% of strokes are caused by cerebral infarction. This injury dramatically reduces or stops the supply of blood to the brain. Because blood does not reach the brain, it damages nerve cells and the function of the organism may be stopped for a long time.

Stroke is the leading cause of death and disability in older people. In developed countries, the death rate from stroke is second only to cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Identification sign .

Dr. Vo Don - Neurosurgery Department - People's Hospital 115 said, symptoms of stroke include:

- Oil pain suddenly abrupt, dizzy, dizzying such as slow contact, drowsiness, and severe coma.

- Suddenly unable to speak, expressing difficult words, saying nonsense, confused

- Paralysis of the limbs, numbness of the parietal face, hands and feet in half.

- Sudden blurred vision, color blindness, severe blindness.

- No urinary incontinence, or complete urinary retention.

Treatment

According to doctors Nguyen Canh Nam, Phan Van Mung and Phan Cong Tam - Neurology-BV of Gia Dinh People's Committee, acute cerebral anemia stroke is an emergency disease. In order to save brain cells, special and urgent treatment is needed within the first 3 hours of onset.

Upon admission, the patient will be quickly assessed clinically, clinically for hematologic and hematological measurements; CT scan of the brain or brain MRI (computerized tomography or magnetic resonance imaging). This is the time for windows to effectively intervene the rtPA-fibrinolytic drug, which has been approved by FDA (USA) to be effective in treating acute ischemic stroke in the first 3 hours.

This is also a new treatment that has just been applied in Vietnam for stroke patients. The intervention with rtPA helps prevent disease progression, dissolves blood clots to prevent sequelae of disability and dies for patients. However, the cost of this drug is still quite high.

The results of rtPA for some patients show that symptoms of weakness improve well within the first 24 hours, most of which completely recover from discharge. Hospital stay is shortened from 6-13 days.

It is known that the treatment with this drug has not been applied massively at medical facilities because the drug is too expensive, and it has not been officially imported into Vietnam. In order to provide a formal and unified treatment regimen for hospitals, it will take some time.

Prevent

Smoking a lot - the cause of stroke According to Dr. Vo Don, the prevention for disease does not happen is still more important: For people who have not had a stroke, to prevent this disease, from now on Now you should care if you have one of the risk factors:

- Treatment of hypertension is most important in stroke patients because about 50% of stroke patients have hypertension. On average, a 5 mmHg drop in blood pressure will reduce the risk of stroke.

- Treatment of arrhythmias (atrial fibrillation) reduces the risk of disease.

- Treatment of diabetes: In diabetics who have cerebral vascular accident, it will be 3 times heavier than normal people.

- Treatment of lipid lowering, especially LDL cholesterol will reduce the risk of disease.

- Obesity treatment: In obese people the risk of stroke will increase 1.5 to 2 times that of normal people because obesity is often associated with hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia.

- Restriction of cigarettes: As well as obesity, smoking increases the risk of stroke 1.5 to 2 times, the higher the risk of smoking more than 20 cigarettes / day. Conversely, if the drug is discontinued for more than 5 years, the risk will decrease. . The restriction of salt intake has significant benefits in the elderly.

- Increasing physical activity reduces the risk of stroke because it reduces weight, lowers blood pressure, and reduces cholesterol.

- For people who have had a stroke: prevention is the same as for people who have never had a disease. Particularly in cerebral infarction stroke need additional treatment of antiplatelet drugs (eg aspirine) and anticoagulants in heart valve disease. Patients must be monitored very strictly to avoid complications from drug use.

JAPANESE