Dr. Lecturer Halil İbrahim Akçay explained the questions about stroke in the ‘For Health’ program prepared by Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University Faculty of Communication. Dr. defines stroke as the blockage of the vessels feeding the brain and the destruction of its tissue, causing damage depending on where it is held. Akçay also explained what the risk factors that trigger stroke are.
“THE RISK OF STROKE INCREASES WITH AGE”
Akçay said, “There are changeable and unchangeable factors. There are factors such as sugar, high blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, alcohol. Among the unchangeable factors, age comes first. The risk of having a stroke increases with age. Men are a little more unfortunate in this regard, and the rate of stroke is slightly higher in men.” can be seen. Among the modifiable risk factors, there is high blood pressure, which we call hypertension, and it increases the risk of stroke by an average of six times. Apart from that, diabetes, bad cholesterol, smoking and alcohol use also increase the risk. Being a passive smoker also increases the risk of stroke. The person does not smoke. “Even if he is in an environment where heavy drinking is consumed, the risk increases,” he said.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FIRST 4.5 HOURS
Neurologist Dr. says that early intervention for a stroke patient is vital. Halil İbrahim Akçay said, “The first 4.5 hours are very important.”
Akçay said, “We have three different approaches to treatment. One is what we call acute intervention. In this treatment, vascular angle treatments are applied, and apart from that, protective measures are taken against the disease before the person has a stroke. It includes processes such as lifestyle changes. In the method called secondary protection, after the patient has a stroke. We have some treatments to prevent it from recurring. This process varies depending on the cause of the stroke. It is very important not to waste as much time as possible in this process. Generally, what we see among our people, especially older people, is that they need to rest a little and think that it will pass. Unfortunately, since the patient is not brought to the emergency room at critical hours for us, his treatment may be delayed. This is why “Therefore, patients’ relatives need to be aware of this issue. We divide stroke into two. 15 percent is cerebral hemorrhage and 85 percent is what we call vascular occlusion. We apply vasodilator treatment to a patient who comes in the first 4.5 hours,” he said.
Akçay said, “If it comes within the first 6 hours and there is a blockage in the main vessels, we can remove the clot directly from the brain by performing a brain angiography, and thus we can see that our patient’s arm starts to move. In that sense, we live in time. The sooner we intervene, the more cells we will save and the healthier we will be.” “The process is coming our way,” he said. (UAV)