Andhra Pradesh - Guntur   

`Heart stroke second biggest cause of death'

Staff Reporter

GUNTUR: Heart stroke is the second biggest cause of death in Asia-Pacific region and the leading cause of disability worldwide, opined leading neuro scientists at the 4th Asia Pacific Conference against Stroke APCAS 2007 held in New Delhi.

City-based Lalitha Super Specialty Hospital, neuro physician, P. Vijaya, who delivered a guest lecture on `Intra Arterial Thrombolysis in Acute Ishemic Stroke', said a block in the supply of blood through vessels caused that stroke. Asians were more prone to cerebral vascular diseases and more than 85 per cent of deaths in Asian countries occur due to stroke, she said.

Participants from US, UK, Australia, Germany, Norway, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong etc participated in the meeting. World Stroke Organisation president Geoffrey Donnan was present.

The meet resolved to hold awareness programmes about the preventive methods against stroke, mobilize public opinion against smoking, bad dietary habits leading to hypertension and diabetes, ways to diagnose the symptoms and the need for emergency treatment, she said. New treatments were now available to loosen the clot with thrombolytic drugs, she said. Early recognition of the symptoms include sudden weakness or numbness in one side of the body, slurring or loss of speech, loss of vision, imbalance, difficulty in swallowing, severe headache, vomiting etc, she added.

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