Health Minister Hon. Subramaniam with a patient undergoing treatment for stroke at the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Specialty Hospital on Tuesday | Photo Credit: Vedan M
In stroke treatment, “time is brain” and “time is neurons”, as every second counts. Greater time loss means 1.9 million neurons are being lost every second, said AL Periyakaruppan, interventional radiologist, Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Specialty Hospital (TNGMSSH) on Tuesday.
Citing the recent case of a 36-year-old man who underwent treatment for stroke at TNGMSSH, Dr. Periyakaruppan said the man started experiencing symptoms at 11.45 a.m. on January 24 and over a span of two days at 1.45 p.m. Reached the hospital. hours. The man came with complaints of weakness of left upper limb and lower limb and inability to speak.
“When it comes to stroke, the golden period for intravenous injection is 4.5 hours from the time of onset of symptoms. The patient was in the golden period, but in stroke treatment, whether a large blood vessel or a small vessel is involved Yes, significant. As recommended, we did a CT scan of the brain to check for bleeding. We found that there was no bleeding in the brain, but a large blood vessel on the right side was completely blocked.
Deciding that intravenous thrombolysis might not be beneficial for the patient because of the involvement of a major blood vessel, the doctors took him straight for mechanical thrombectomy. “It is a keyhole procedure in which we pass a catheter through the groin to the brain using a stent retriever to remove the clot, thereby restoring blood flow to the brain. He started walking the same night of the procedure and He was discharged after three days,” explained Dr. Periyakaruppan.
Due to this emergency procedure, there is a significant improvement in disability-adjusted life years as well as quality of life for the patient, states a press release.
Noting that delay in treatment could lead to paralysis, Dr. Periyakaruppan said that time was an important factor for treatment of stroke, otherwise productive life could be lost, and quality of life affected.
Preventive measures are also important, he said, adding that physical activity, adequate hydration, breathing exercises, taking appropriate medication for diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol problems were essential.
Health Minister Hon. Subramaniam met the patient on Tuesday and congratulated the team of doctors for performing the procedure. Among others, Director of Medical Education R.K. Shantimalar, TNGMSSH director R. Vimala, TNGMSSH nodal officer V. Anand Kumar and RM Bhupathi, head of the neurology department of the hospital were present.