Acute cases of Stroke Successfully Treated at Fortis

Changes in lifestyle, diabetes and hypertension responsible for the increase in stroke cases

Mohali, September 26, 2018: “A stroke is a medical emergency that needs immediate medical attention because the brain does not receive enough oxygen or nutrients, causing brain cells to die. How a person is affected by their stroke depends on where the stroke occurs in the brain and how much the brain is damaged,” informed Dr Sandeep Sharma, Senior Consultant and Head, Neuro-interventional Radiology and Dr Amit Shankar Singh, Consultant, Neurology, from Fortis Hospital, Mohali. Two recent stroke cases reported at the hospital were successfully treated.

“A stroke also called as a ‘brain attack’, occurs when the blood flow to an area in the brain is blocked. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and haemorrhagic, due to bleeding,” informed Dr Sharma. He further informed that in the haemorrhagic stroke, there is a brain aneurysm burst or a weakened blood vessel leak (haemorrhagic), which is one of the two types of stroke. While it is the least common of the two types of stroke; it most often results in death. Whereas, an ischemic stroke is one in which the blood vessel carrying blood to the brain is blocked by a blood clot (ischemic).

Giving details about cases, Dr Sandeep Sharma said, Mr Ram Nath, 50 years old had large brain haemorrhage and a very big aneurysm (which is a balloon like swelling in the brain artery). He was counselled by multiple doctors regarding the grave nature of the disease. He was referred to Fortis Mohali’s Neurosciences department for endovascular treatment. ‘’He was treated on the same day using coils and advanced devices and was discharged within two days”, added Dr. Sharma.

46-year-old Mr Jasnik Singh was brought to Fortis with thrombus in large artery of brain with severe paralysis. He was given drug dissolving solution within two hours by which he improved but again deteriorated within minutes. With no delay he was advised mechanical clot removal from brain artery by the neurosciences team. Dr Sandeep Sharma performed the clot retrieval. “Patient recovered from very bad paralysis the very next day which was a surprise for both medical community and patient relatives because his brain had developed patches. He was discharged from the hospital within two days and continued under preventive care”, said Dr Sandeep Sharma.

Citing another case, Dr Sharma said, “A 57 year-old patient was brought to emergency with severe paralysis. The family went to many private and government hospitals before coming to Fortis Mohali. They came to the hospital after 10 hours had lapsed. Mechanical Thrombectomy was done. His totally paralyzed body started improving the very next day and he was discharged within 5 days. Now he does not have significant paralysis and is under preventive care and regular OPD care’’ explained Dr Sandeep.

Mr Abhijit Singh, ZonalDirector, Fortis Hospital, Mohali said, “The best way to prevent a stroke is through lifestyle changes, including eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, not smoking tobacco, avoiding alcohol, keeping blood pressure under control, managing diabetes and treating conditions like obstructive sleep apnea.”

A recent study says, “Around 82% stroke patients reached a hospital providing tertiary care after six hours of the onset of a stroke. Around 12% patients reached the hospital between three-and-a-half and six hours, and only 5% patients reached within three-and-a-half hours.”