Forty-five-year-old Sumit Shah did not have an inkling that his binge drinking spree on Holi last year would leave him debilitated for the rest of his life. Multiple servings of alcohol at a party in Lonavla left him severely dehydrated and he eventually suffered from a brain stroke.
"It had been over four hours after which the treatment begun at Jaslok Hospital. He was way out of the window period to be administered salvage treatment by giving thrombolytic drugs which could prevent paralysis," said Dr Paresh Doshi, head of neurosurgery at Jaslok Hospital.
Shah's blood supply from the main carotid artery to the brain was hampered due to dehydration. "A stroke patient should be attended to within an hour or two of his or her suffering an attack. After the window period gets over, administering salvage medicines increases the risk of a patient suffering from brain haemorrhage," explained Dr SM Katrak, head of neurology at Jaslok Hospital.
One in every five hundred persons in India falls prey to a brain stroke. India records up to 16 lakh cases of acute stroke every year and it is the third leading cause of death. Doctors said that 12% of these strokes are occurring in persons less than 40 years. "50% of strokes occur due to diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol while others are a result of certain infections. The former cause is a greater worry these days," said Dr Katrak.
After Jaslok Hospital introduced a 'Code Blue,' a programme to provide rapid response in case of heart attacks, the response time in which an emergency team attended to a patient in the casualty department was reduced to less than half from previously ten minutes to three minutes. "Taking cue from the 'Code Blue,' programme, we have now formally included 'Code Stroke' in our emergency response numbers," said Dr Tarang Gianchandani, CEO of the hospital.
Doctors said that once the patient is admitted in the casualty, not even a minute's delay will occur in detecting his/her condition and assembling neurologists, intensivists and neuroradiologists as well as surgeons to salvage the condition so that more limbs and lives can be saved.
"Currently, in Indian cities including Mumbai, only three per cent of the eligible stroke patients receive thrombo embolytic drugs to remove clotting as they are brought to hospital on time. The rest are paralysed as they are brought in late to super speciality hospitals and cannot be administered drugs. Thirty per cent of all stroke patients die," said Dr Paresh Doshi.
What is stroke?
It is a brain attack produced due to blockage of a blood vessel in the brain which is an ischemic stroke or a rupture of the blood vessel, which is a hemorrhagic stroke
Only three per cent of patients get timely treatment
To identify a stroke patient look out for abbreviation FAST – (Face may lose shape and droop, arms may have slow movement, imbalance like dropping of food or objects, speech may slur). If the patient shows any of these symptoms they should immediately be rushed to a hospital.
Another abbreviation to remember is BMVSSC which pertains to Balance, Movement, Vision, Speech, Sensation and Consciousness. If any of these parameters in a patient are compromised, they should be brought into a hospital for early treatment to avoid paralysis.
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