Need to prevent Strokes stressed

Simple preventive measures can go a long way in avoiding strokes. However, proper treatment and rehabilitation procedures should be put in place as strokes will become one of the main causes of disability in developing countries like India in the near future, J P Mohr, professor of clinical neurology, has said. Speaking at a press meet in Chennai yesterday, J P Mohr, director, Doris and Stanley Tananbaum Stroke Centre, New York, said constant monitoring of blood pressure, keeping low blood sugar level (diabetic condition), and taking medication like aspirin whenever necessary were some of the steps to ward off strokes, he said. He said medicines like aspirin were easily available. By keeping BP in check, the mortality rate of strokes can be prevented, he added. Stroke (cerebrovascular disease) is a result of irregular supply of blood in the brain and whenever blood supply is affected, stroke occurs, he said. ‘Around 80 per cent of common strokes are due to haemorrhage or blockage of blood vessels that result in brain damage, and only 20 per cent from death of brain tissue due to irregular blood supply,’ he said and added that appropriate treatment procedures were vital for reversing the paralytic effects of stroke. He also said negative lifestyle habits like smoking would heighten the possibility of stroke at later stages of life as it was quite common among those aged above 40. ‘How soon a patient gets admitted to the hospital once attacked by stroke is very critical to the recovery and for further reversing the effects on the body,’ he said. Also, in developing countries like India, the infrastructure cost for setting up treatment procedures was expensive. Hence, the emphasis on preventive measures, he said. ‘Body weakness, dizziness, double vision, partial blindness, inability to stand for long are some of the subtle changes that precede a stroke and should get oneself checked up in an hospital if such symptoms persist for a year,’ he said. Though the disability caused by stroke was severe and life- long, the preventive measures to be followed are the same as those steps taken against heart attack, he said. ‘In a country like India where 70 per cent of the people are in rural areas, proper health delivery centres and rehabilitative measures are necessary to counter stroke and its disability,’ said professor Krishnamoorthy Srinivas, chairman, T S Srinivasan Institute of Neurological Sciences, PHC. He also said that once a patient suffers a stroke, he or she should first check through telephone the availability of infrastructure for treatment in hospitals located nearby and then take further steps. Mohr was in the city to give the 24th T S Srinivasan endowment oration on the subject of stroke and take part in an international workshop for neuroscientists (14 – 17 Feb) being organised by T S Srinivasan Institute of Neurological Sciences and Research, a unit of Public Health Centre, West Mambalam.

Simple preventive measures can go a long way in avoiding strokes. However, proper treatment and rehabilitation procedures should be put in place as strokes will become one of the main causes of disability in developing countries like India in the near future, J P Mohr, professor of clinical neurology, has said. Speaking at a press meet in Chennai yesterday, J P Mohr, director, Doris and Stanley Tananbaum Stroke Centre, New York, said constant monitoring of blood pressure, keeping low blood sugar level (diabetic condition), and taking medication like aspirin whenever necessary were some of the steps to ward off strokes, he said. He said medicines like aspirin were easily available. By keeping BP in check, the mortality rate of strokes can be prevented, he added. Stroke (cerebrovascular disease) is a result of irregular supply of blood in the brain and whenever blood supply is affected, stroke occurs, he said. ‘Around 80 per cent of common strokes are due to haemorrhage or blockage of blood vessels that result in brain damage, and only 20 per cent from death of brain tissue due to irregular blood supply,’ he said and added that appropriate treatment procedures were vital for reversing the paralytic effects of stroke. He also said negative lifestyle habits like smoking would heighten the possibility of stroke at later stages of life as it was quite common among those aged above 40. ‘How soon a patient gets admitted to the hospital once attacked by stroke is very critical to the recovery and for further reversing the effects on the body,’ he said. Also, in developing countries like India, the infrastructure cost for setting up treatment procedures was expensive. Hence, the emphasis on preventive measures, he said. ‘Body weakness, dizziness, double vision, partial blindness, inability to stand for long are some of the subtle changes that precede a stroke and should get oneself checked up in an hospital if such symptoms persist for a year,’ he said. Though the disability caused by stroke was severe and life- long, the preventive measures to be followed are the same as those steps taken against heart attack, he said. ‘In a country like India where 70 per cent of the people are in rural areas, proper health delivery centres and rehabilitative measures are necessary to counter stroke and its disability,’ said professor Krishnamoorthy Srinivas, chairman, T S Srinivasan Institute of Neurological Sciences, PHC. He also said that once a patient suffers a stroke, he or she should first check through telephone the availability of infrastructure for treatment in hospitals located nearby and then take further steps. Mohr was in the city to give the 24th T S Srinivasan endowment oration on the subject of stroke and take part in an international workshop for neuroscientists (14 – 17 Feb) being organised by T S Srinivasan Institute of Neurological Sciences and Research, a unit of Public Health Centre, West Mambalam. (Source: News Today, Feb 2004)