Early detection key to fight brain strokes

New Delhi: Two people, who suffered from brain stroke, got to live normal lives after being successfully cured. The only deciding factor in cases was that the family and friends detected something amiss and took the patients for medical intervention within the first few hours of the onset of symptoms - also called as the Golden Period, doctors said. 

In the first case, the patient developed the symptoms - difficulty in speaking and understanding - at his office. While his colleagues could not understand his abnormal change in behaviour, they decided to rush him to Apollo Hospital within 1.5 hours of the onset of symptoms. He recovered significant speech within one hour with the help of intravenous drugs. The second case involving a 43-year-old patient required removal of a clot through a stent. 

The 'Golden Period' is 4.5 hours for IV intravenous and six hours for mechanical thrombectomy. Dr Vinit Suri, senior consultant, neurology, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, said, "In both the cases, the patients were observed having difficulty in speaking and understanding, while other bodily functions were almost normal. It is important to understand that stroke may present without limb paralysis with abnormal behaviour or loss of speech i.e. difficulty to recognise the verbal instructions."

Stressing upon the importance of golden period, he stressed that even within the golden period the earlier the treatment is started, the better is the recovery. He said, "Emergent treatment within the golden period can prevent damage to the brain by restoring the circulation."

After the treatment, the doctors claimed that the two patients could be brought back to their normal since they were rushed to the hospital hours within the onset of symptoms.