Treatment essential during golden hour : Dr Perwez

Jamshedpur: Stroke, a condition traditionally associated with old age � is increasingly affecting young and middle aged people.

With the prevalence rate being 1.54 per thousand; stroke is the first leading cause of disability and third leading cause of death in India that is responsible for more deaths annually than those attributed to AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.

However, the awareness level about this silent epidemic is very low. Dr. N. Perwez, Consultant � Neuro & Spine Surgery at Brahmananda Narayana Multispecialty Hospital, Jamshedpur, shares some insights on stroke, its cause, prevention and treatment.

He noted that a stroke is a medical emergency, which happens when blood flow to the brain stops and within minutes, brain cells begin to die.

There are two kinds of stroke namely Ischemic stroke, caused by a clot that blocks a blood vessel in the brain and hemorrhagic stroke, caused by a blood vessel that breaks and bleeds into the brain.

Ischemic stroke is the most common type, accounting for approximately 80 percent of all strokes.

Traditionally �stroke� was believed to be a terminal disease; however it can be combated if attended to during the �golden hour� of its occurrence.

The first four hours (Golden Hours) is crucial in the rescue and restoration when a patient suffers a stroke.

During a stroke attack, the longer blood flow is cut off from the brain, the greater the damage. The most common kind of stroke, ischemic stroke, can be treated with a drug that dissolves clots blocking the blood flow.

The window of opportunity to start treating stroke patients is four and half hours. But a person needs to be admitted within those four hours of having a stroke for proper treatment