Public Needs Better Education About Stroke Signs
Public Needs Better Education About Stroke Signs
Feb. 15, 2000 (Atlanta) -- Three hours can make all the difference for a person suffering a stroke. If a stroke victim can get to a prepared hospital within that time frame, there?s a drug that can possibly change that patient?s prognosis -- from disability to recovery.
In 1996, the FDA approved the use of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) for emergency treatment for stroke. The clot-busting drug can?t be used for the approximately 20% of people who have a stroke that's caused by a vessel bursting in the brain. But for the other 80% of people, who have strokes caused by a blood clot in the brain, the drug became the first effective emergency treatment, giving a person a fighting chance to recover completely.
Unfortunately, many people don?t know this, and according to some studies presented at a recent meeting of stroke experts, the medical community is not fully up to speed to be able to take advantage of tPA?s benefits.
Marilyn M. Rymer, MD, the medical director of the stroke center at Saint Luke?s Hospital of Kansas City, Mo., tells WebMD that some cities have done better than others at educating communities about stroke symptoms and the need to get to the hospital quickly.
tPA must be given within 3 hours of onset of the symptoms of stroke; these symptoms include weakness or numbness on one side of the body, slurred speech, or blurry vision. One of the main obstacles to patients receiving tPA has been diagnosing patients with a stroke within this time period, Rymer tells WebMD.
Rymer and colleagues used data compiled as part of the Kansas City Stroke Study to find the factors affecting how long it took a person having an acute stroke to get to a hospital. Surprisingly, out of 360 patients who knew when their stroke symptoms first hit, half of them got to the hospital within three hours. These numbers are high, Rymer says, because most reports around the country are about 20-30%. "One possible explanation is [that] the level of public education in this area has been pretty high for several years," Rymer tells WebMD.
Public Needs Better Education About Stroke Signs
Feb. 15, 2000 (Atlanta) -- Three hours can make all the difference for a person suffering a stroke. If a stroke victim can get to a prepared hospital within that time frame, there?s a drug that can possibly change that patient?s prognosis -- from disability to recovery.
In 1996, the FDA approved the use of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) for emergency treatment for stroke. The clot-busting drug can?t be used for the approximately 20% of people who have a stroke that's caused by a vessel bursting in the brain. But for the other 80% of people, who have strokes caused by a blood clot in the brain, the drug became the first effective emergency treatment, giving a person a fighting chance to recover completely.
Unfortunately, many people don?t know this, and according to some studies presented at a recent meeting of stroke experts, the medical community is not fully up to speed to be able to take advantage of tPA?s benefits.
Marilyn M. Rymer, MD, the medical director of the stroke center at Saint Luke?s Hospital of Kansas City, Mo., tells WebMD that some cities have done better than others at educating communities about stroke symptoms and the need to get to the hospital quickly.
tPA must be given within 3 hours of onset of the symptoms of stroke; these symptoms include weakness or numbness on one side of the body, slurred speech, or blurry vision. One of the main obstacles to patients receiving tPA has been diagnosing patients with a stroke within this time period, Rymer tells WebMD.
Rymer and colleagues used data compiled as part of the Kansas City Stroke Study to find the factors affecting how long it took a person having an acute stroke to get to a hospital. Surprisingly, out of 360 patients who knew when their stroke symptoms first hit, half of them got to the hospital within three hours. These numbers are high, Rymer says, because most reports around the country are about 20-30%. "One possible explanation is [that] the level of public education in this area has been pretty high for several years," Rymer tells WebMD.
Source...