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Stroke prevention Every second stroke could have been prevented
Every year more than a quarter of a million people in Germany suffer a stroke. This is one of the most common causes of death in this country. Survivors usually have to contend with the consequences for life. However, better prevention would prevent around one in two strokes.
Often associated with lifelong consequences
The sudden stroke of jazz singer Roger Cicero a few days ago caused a great deal of excitement. Although the disease is usually associated with an increased age, but are now increasingly younger stroke affected, as studies in recent years showed. In Germany alone, around 270,000 people suffer a stroke each year. According to the German Stroke Society (DSG), stroke is the third leading cause of death in Germany and the most common reason for disability in adults. The numbers are also high in neighboring Austria. According to one expert, about every second stroke could be prevented by comprehensive, health-related prevention.
Every second stroke could be prevented by prevention, according to experts. It is important to reduce risk factors such as high blood pressure. (Image: Patrizia Tilly / fotolia.com) Every second stroke could be prevented
Typical risk factors for stroke include hypertension, type 2 diabetes, atrial fibrillation and lipid metabolism disorders. Preventing these factors through prevention could prevent every second stroke. This was stated by Vice President of the Austrian Society for General Medicine, Reinhold Glehr, in a report by the news agency APA. Every year, 25,000 strokes occur in the Alpine republic. Every sixth affected person dies of it, about half of the survivors can lead a normal life again after an adequate therapy and after an often lengthy rehabilitation.
Many patients become a nursing case
According to the Innsbruck neurologist Stefan Kiechl, president of the Austrian Stroke Association, according to the APA, about 15 percent of patients remain more or less affected, and just as many become nursing patients. "Although health awareness has increased, the repression remains the same," says Glehr. "As long as nothing happens, you do not feel affected." One way to motivate people to turn away from cherished habits such as cigarettes, alcohol, unhealthy diet and lack of exercise, Glehr sees talks between family doctor and patient. "Conversational medicine is recognized and rewarded," said the expert.
Great progress in therapy
There has been great progress in the treatment of patients in recent years. Thus, several new therapies for stroke patients have been presented, which among other things can improve the speech after a stroke. And recently, scientists in the journal "Lancet Neurol" reported on a therapy that helps stroke patients to eat with a knife and fork again.
In a stroke, quick help is important
Enormously important in a stroke is speed. "What matters is that the patient comes immediately," emphasized Kiechl. In specialized facilities called stroke units, an ischemic stroke is treated by dissolving the blood clot through an injected drug. But because this method alone is not sufficient when a large blood vessel is blocked, a combined therapy is currently being established. As the neurologist Elisabeth Fertl from the Vienna Rudolfstiftung explained, the mechanical removal of the clot by microcatheter takes place after thrombolysis. According to the agency, this new therapy for stroke patients, which was presented at a congress in Scotland last year, has to be carried out within six hours of the onset of the stroke. (Ad)