Acute stroke

Whether you call it a stroke, paralytic attack or brain attack, experiencing a stroke is a grave situation.However, if you know the essentials of a stroke the damage it does to the human body can be minimised allowing the victim to return to routine life. A stroke occurs when an artery supplying blood to your brain gets blocked by a clot or if the artery bursts.As a result, the brain cannot get adequate blood and oxygen.This damages a portion of the brain and the parts of the body it controls get weak or paralysed.

Types of Stroke

• An ischaemic stroke is the most common, where a blood clot blocks an artery in the brain.
• A haemorrhagic stroke is rarer and happens when an artery in the brain bursts. This causes bleeding in or around the brain. Possible reasons for this type of bleeding are
  – Rupture of an artery due to high blood pressure
  – Rupture of an abnormal tangle of blood vessels called an arteriovenous malformation
  – Rupture of a small ballooning,a.k.a.an aneurysm, of an artery in the brain
• A transient ischaemic attack or a mini stroke happens when a small clot blocks an artery for short period,causing brief paralysis

Symptoms of a Stroke

Your right brain (RB) controls the left side of the body and your left brain (LB) controls the right side of the body as a result,the symptoms of a stroke occur in the following order:

• Weakness of face,arm,leg on one side (LB)
• Numbness of face,arm,leg on one side (LB)
• Slurred speech or loss of speech (RB)
• Loss of balance or coordination (LB)
• Double vision or loss of vision (RB)
• The worst headache in your life (RB)
• Giddiness with any of the symptoms (LB)

Some urgent tests that will be conducted in A&E are

• Blood sugar, serum creatinine, electrolytes
• MRI or CT scan of the brain using a contrast dye injection
• ECG

Initial general treatment a stroke patient receives in A&E includes

• Breathing stabilisation
• Lowering of high blood pressure using intravenous (IV) labetalol
• Correction of blood sugar levels using IV glucose or insulin
• Treatment of fit using IV fosphenytoin

Treatments for Types of stoke

If you or a relative is having a stroke,medical care should be sought urgently. Immediate treatment may minimise the long-term effects of a stroke and prevent death.

Ischaemic Stroke Treatment

The two methods to treat this type of stroke are:

• Clot-buster injection
  Tissue plasminogen activator can be given through an IV in the arm within four and a half hours from the beginning of stroke symptoms. If successful, it can completely reverse or drastically improve the chances of recovering from a stroke.
• Mechanical clot removal
  Also called mechanical thrombectomy, in this method a catheter is passed from artery in the groin to the blocked artery in the brain. The clot is removed using a wire-like device. This procedure should be done within 24 hours from the start of stroke symptoms.

Haemorrhagic Stroke Treatment

• In some cases,surgery may be required to drain the blood from the brain of the stroke victim.
• If the stroke was caused due to bleeding from an abnormal tangle of blood vessels or an aneurysm, it can be treated surgically by placing a metal clip or by passing a catheter from an artery in the groin to the brain. The bleeding artery is sealed using glue or metal coils.

Further treatment in the hospital includes

• The patient will initially be admitted in our ICU and later shifted to our Stroke Unit.
• Treatment will include rehabilitation by physical therapists.
• Your doctor will give medicines to prevent strokes in the future.