According to the World Health Organization, the biggest cause of mortality in the world is ischemic heart disease and the second is stroke. Stroke cases are on the rise in developing countries and alarmingly in the metropolitan cities of India. Apollo Specialty Hospitals, OMR receives more than 12 stroke patients in a month, and most of them are under 45 years of age.
Around 22 patients were admitted to Apollo Speciality Hospitals, OMR, Chennai within a span of few months under Dr. S. Karthikeyan, Consultant Interventional Neurologist; amongst that 50% of the patients were between 20 to 40 years of age.
Majority of stroke (85%) occurs when blood stops flowing to a part of the brain due to a clot or thrombus, usually referred to as ischemic stroke. This interruption in blood flow leads to damage to the surrounding brain cells. Patients who had a large blood vessel blockage underwent a procedure called Mechanical Thrombectomy at Apollo Specialty Hospitals, OMR. Mechanical Thrombectomy is a new revolutionary procedure for acute ischemic stroke. Mechanical Thrombectomy is an endovascular procedure in which a catheter with a stent is passed through the patient’s leg to the brain and the clot is identified, captured and removed by a stent.
Speaking about the rising cases of stroke in Chennai, Dr. S. Karthikeyan, Consultant Interventional Neurologist, Apollo Specialty Hospitals, OMR, Chennai said, “Stress, Lifestyle changes and dietary habits appear to be the main cause of brain and heart diseases. Youngsters follow a frantic lifestyle spending more than 12 to 14 hours at work including late night and sleep deprived shifts. They cause more harm to themselves by eating junk foods, smoking and alcohol abuse. These are observed as some of the causes of stroke among young people, on the other hand genetic factors, coagulation disorder, vasculitis and dissection could also be the cause”.
He also said, “In most of the cases reported to us, the patient falls within this category and the major risk of stroke found in the young patients is that their brain swells faster. Hence, patient should reach the hospital within 4-hours of getting stroke, the Golden Hour. We used Mechanical Thrombectomy to treat most patients while in a few we also used intravenous thrombolysis, which helps in lysing the blood clot. After these procedures, all these patients recovered remarkably from paralysis. Hence, stroke is no longer a disability inducing disease, if treated on time with these recent medical advances.
