Little background -the main strokes most elder people have are hemorrhagic and ischemic. Some people can have transient ischemic attacks and have no idea. 80% of strokes are ischemic. Just quickly the difference between hemorrhagic and ischemic is that one is a rupture and the other is cell death due to atherosclerosis (blockage). Anyway the reason I thought I would post this information, is that I went to a conference on the weekend concerning stroke management. The Dr reported patients who receive brain saving medication within 4.5 hrs, usually have a much better rehabilitative outcome than those who don't. So if you think someone in your family may have suffered a stroke, time is critical. Anyway in Europe they use a treatment called thrombolysis which is like a thinner of blood to reduce the clot in ischemic stroke patients. Results are fantastic and people who were displaying hemiplegia (right or left sided paralysis or weakness) can regain full function within 20mins of the receiving treatment. The only problem is that out every 100 patients 2-8 can potentially die. This treatment is no good for hemorrhages obviously. Australia does not use this form of treatment across the country yet, though it was mentioned the Melbourne hospital is starting to use it. At the moment if a patient cannot display some form of gross motor movement like arm abduction or fine motor finger extension/flexion within 4 weeks of a stroke then the outcome is not very good for functional use. So just remember time is critical in the event of a stroke and to shock you even more, you lose around 2 million neurons per minute.
