Treatment of Stroke: Important Things To Know

Just like heart attack, stroke is also a serious health condition that calls for immediate medical and surgical care. It is often addressed as a ‘brain attack’ because stroke occurs when the supply of blood to the brain is stopped due to a clot or due to an injury to the brain blood vessels.

As soon as the blood supply is stopped, brain cells start to die as lack of blood leads to oxygen scarcity, which is very crucial for the proper functioning of blood.

Based on the cause leading to a stroke attack, it has been categorized into two parts. Ischemic stroke is known to be the most commonly occurring stroke type which is caused due to a clot in blood. The other type happens to be a hemorrhagic stroke, which occurs when the blood vessels in the brain break and start to bleed.

While there are various treatment options available to treat the different stroke type, the success of a stroke treatment largely depends on how quickly the person was given required medical care. The initial few hours after a stroke attack is very unnerving and fast-paced - and it calls for emergency treatment under expert supervision so as to prevent any further damage to the brain. The medical team, specialized for handling stroke cases, has to work quickly to identify the stroke type in order to plan the right treatment.

Objective of an immediate stroke treatment

The treatment which is given to the stroke patient in the first few hours is very crucial, and has three major goals to accomplish:

1. Stabilizing the patient’s respiratory system, heart function, bleeding, blood pressure and different symptoms.
2. To diagnose the stroke type by a CT (computed tomography) scan. Scan results allow the team in selecting the most effective medical treatment for stroke which can provide immediate relief. 
3. To provide early medical treatment for stroke in Ahmedabad as per the type of stroke. Ideally, the emergency cases for stroke are treated in a special stroke unit in the hospital, which has the needed equipment and medical assistance to provide immediate care. 

Treating Ischemic Stroke

Ischemic stroke is caused owing to a clot in the brain. To treat this stroke type, specialists first try to figure out if the patient can be benefited from a clog-busting medicine. The most commonly used clot-busting drug is tPA - tissue Plasminogen Activator, also known as Activas.

This emergency stroke medication is known to reopen the blocked arteries in most cases of ischemic stroke. The drug has to be given within 4.5 hours after stroke surfaces. It can cut down stroke severity while also reversing some of the stroke effects.

Even after giving emergency stroke medication, the stroke team monitors patient’s health very closely for a day. To confirm if tPA has worked, another CT scan is conducted after a day or two of the stroke.

If the clot-busting drug fails in certain cases, the healthcare team moves on with another medical treatment for stroke in Ahmedabad, which may sometimes include a surgery if the case is very complex.

Treating Hemorrhagic Stroke

Hemorrhagic stroke is a more serious condition than ischemic stroke as the bleeding takes place within the brain, which further damages other tissues and cells. Clot-busting drugs like tPA don’t prove effective in treating hemorrhagic stroke. The recovery period post-hemorrhagic stroke treatment is also longer. Considering the symptoms, the stroke specialist will decide if the patient needs to be given any emergency medicine for preventing further brain damage from stroke.

To control the bleeding, a surgery might prove to be the last retort but that decision is only taken after the approval by a neurosurgeon. Surgery is considered in cases where there is a dire need to restrict the bleeding in the brain, fix the injured artery or to cut down the pressure in the brain. The ideal treatment plan is only designed once all stroke symptoms are monitored clearly.

Conclusion

As above-mentioned, planning the perfect medical treatment for stroke in Ahmedabad depends a lot on the first few hours after a stroke attack because this stage is the most crucial one. A slight delay in treatment can result in a major loss for the stroke patient, which is why it has to be ensured that a stroke patient is given medical attention in a quick span of time.

At Shalby Hospitals Ahmedabad, our team of dedicated neurologists provides customized emergency treatment for stroke, which not only focuses on treating the primary cause of stroke but also helps in the recovery process. Our expert team of specialists ensures that the patients are given thorough guidance about stroke prevention in future.

For more details, get in touch with us at info@shalby.org