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Experts: Quick treatment could cut stroke toll
December 12, 1996
Web posted at: 10:30 p.m. ESTFrom Correspondent Andrew Holtz
DURHAM, North Carolina (CNN) -- Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. It is the third leading cause of adult death.
And, experts say, that toll is needlessly high.
At a National Institutes of Health meeting opening Thursday, officials urged doctors and the public to take swifter action against the debilitating brain injury.
A stroke is the destruction of brain tissue that occurs when a blood clot or blockage cuts the blood supply.
Urgent treatment needed
The stroke experts called together by the NIH are fighting old attitudes about stroke. "It was like, 'We'll see the patient in a few hours, or we'll see them tomorrow, or give the patient an aspirin and call me in the morning.' And that just doesn't make sense," said Dr. Mark Alberts of Duke University Medical Center.
Instead, neurologists say, doctors and the public should give strokes the same urgent treatment as is given to heart attacks.
"Those hospitals in the vanguard, who have organized to provide that kind of coordinated treatment, are able to bring patients in and treat them very quickly," said Dr. Zach Hall of the NIH. "But more hospitals and physicians and patients are not organized in that way."
Tearful testimony
Edgar Faulkner is an example of the payoff. When a stroke hit him he showed classic symptoms -- he couldn't speak or close his right hand.
Minutes after receiving experimental treatment, he motioned to his wife.
"I reached out and pinched her nose. Just that fast," he said as tears welled up in his eyes. "And then I started talking."
Faulkner was given the clot-busting drug TPA, which stands for "tissue plasminogen activator." When used in the first hours after a stroke it can restore blood flow in the brains of some patients.
"To be able to make an extra 12 or 13 patients -- out of every 100 who have a stroke -- all better, or almost all better, that is a very significant improvement," Dr. Alberts said.
Hospitals have more tools than ever for dealing with strokes, but they are useless if patients don't seek treatment quickly. So the message is going out to the public -- act fast on the warning signs of a stroke, or what some now call a "brain attack."
Symptoms include weakness or numbness, especially on one side of the body; blurred vision, usually in one eye; slurred speech; dizziness; and explosive headache.
For Edgar Faulkner, it seems everything went just right. Four days after his stroke, he headed home, eager to resume work and even planning an overseas vacation.
Related stories:
- Experimental drug edges aspirin in heart study - Nov. 13, 1996
- Take a walk for a healthier heart - Nov. 12, 1996
Related sites:
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- TPA Approval -- Blood Clot Dissolver
- Tissue Plasminogen Activator (TPA), American Heart Association
- Tissue plasminogen activator for acute ischemic stroke
- Clot-buster saved life
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