JEDDAH, 17 August — King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center (KFSHRC) has developed a comprehensive stroke program in cooperation with the Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
Outlining the program, Dr. Sultan Bahabri, chief executive officer at KFSHRC, said a stroke prevention program that emphasized public and patient education, and the identification and management of stroke risk factors, had also been developed.
The hospital, which recently hosted a discussion on controversial issues in biomedical research covering stem-cell research, also reports that a woman, who remained infertile for 16 years of her married life, has delivered a test-tube baby following a successful invitro fertilization (IVF) procedure.
While the stroke program has been implemented, Bahabri said: “An acute stroke unit is under construction so that our stroke patients can be admitted and cared for in this specially equipped unit by subspecialty trained nursing staff to ensure the best possible outcome,” he added.
According to him, the hospital’s department of neurosciences has developed the program that emphasizes acute stroke management with ‘t-PA’ and an aggressive stroke prevention program.
“The t-PA breaks down the clots that cause most strokes. In many cases this reduces the amount of damage produced by a stroke. Through the international collaboration program, five members of the hospital’s stroke team traveled to Boston in June this year for a week of meetings and conferences with members of the stroke team at the MGH.
“As a result of these efforts, our neurologists have developed a partnership with the stroke program at MGH. We’ve a high-speed telemedicine link with the MGH so that cases of acute stroke patients can be viewed and examined online by a stroke neurologist in Boston. Also, the acute management issues can be discussed with our neurologists. This way, the expertise of one of the best stroke centers in the world is made available to our stroke patients on a time-frame,” he said.
The hospital’s neurologists have described stroke as the sudden loss of function of a part of the brain.
“One minute you’re normal and the next minute you’re paralyzed or numb on one side of the body, cannot speak, or have difficulty walking. Fifteen percent of stroke victims don’t survive and 50 percent have a significant neurological problem such as paralysis of half of their body or loss of speed. “In this part of the world, stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability in the adult population,” one of them said.
In a bid to educate the public on stroke, the hospital’s neurologists explain: Strokes are caused by either blockage of an artery supplying the brain or rupture of an artery and hemorrhage into the brain. Just like heart attacks, the most common cause of ischemic strokes is the hardening of the arteries or what doctors call atherosclerosis. The major feature of a stroke is the sudden onset of the symptoms and the fact that most strokes produce loss of function on one side of the body.
A number of lifestyle habits and medical conditions contribute to the hardening of the arteries and the development of heart attacks and strokes. The most important of these conditions are high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, obesity and physical inactivity. In fact, many strokes can be prevented.
