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Stroke second most common cause of death

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, March 9 - Stroke is the second most common cause of death worldwide and it occurs either due to bleeding inside the brain known as haemorrhagic stroke or due to obstruction of the blood vessels of the brain by a clot known as ischemic stroke.

Incidence of stroke is increasing day by day in India, according to a statement issued by city-based Down Town Hospital.

It said that the standard treatment for stroke includes comprehensive stroke unit, intra-arterial or intra-venouslysis of clot - thrombolysis� - and early rehabilitation.

Thrombolysis with recombinant tissue Plasminogen Activator (rtPA) is the most effective treatment at present, which was approved by US FDA in 1996. It is administered within the narrow window period of 4.5 hours from the onset of symptoms.

�The stroke team of Down Town Hospital headed by neurologist Dr Lakshya Jyoti Basumatary pioneered IV thrombolysis in the north-eastern part of India. For the last nine months, thrombolysis has been done in eight patients with acute ischemic stroke who arrived in the hospital within 4.5 hours from onset of symptoms. Out of these eight patients, the youngest one was a 30-year-old man and the eldest was a 73-year-old lady. All the patients showed very good functional outcome within a short follow-up period. All of them are now able to walk and perform their daily routine activities independently,� said the statement.

It cited data to state that there is an increasing trend in the prevalence rate of stroke.

In 2000 it was 108 per 1,00,000 individuals, whereas in 2015 it was 248 per 1,00,000 individuals, including young people, indicating a dramatic rise in prevalence of stroke over a period of 15 years. In 2015 itself there were 1,667,372 cases of stroke in India.

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