After regaining speech within a week at Global Hospital, Parel

Global Hospital, Parel  recently treated a 84-year-old woman who suffered a stroke that left her unable to speak. Thanks to the Stroke unit’s prompt and planned approach to treatment, the patient made a remarkable recovery. She chanted “Jai Ambe Gauri” to express gratitude to lord almighty and celebrate her victory over adversity as she regained her speech.

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and morbidity among adults highlighting its importance as a serious public health issue. The prevalence of stroke among senior citizens is a concerning phenomenon. As individuals age, their risk of suffering a stroke increases substantially. Studies have shown that approximately 50% of all strokes occur in people aged over 75 and 30% in those over 85 years old with both men and women equally at risk.

Vimaladevi Agarwal, a resident of Sewri was admitted to Global Hospital, Parel, with an acute onset stroke. Dr Kiran Jain, Senior Consultant Internal Medicine, who is their family physician for the last 25 years identified the early signs of stroke and directed the family to immediately rush her to the ER at Global Hospitals,Parel as she was in the window period and make a full recovery if treated within the golden hour. At 84, she had multiple comorbidities with a metallic valve and a pacemaker which prevented her undergoing  MRI. But the team here took some quick decisions and CT was done which showed the infarct. Though she was well within the window period, she could not be thrombolysed as she was already on blood thinners including warfarin with an INR level of 3. Dr Pankaj Agarwal, Senior Neurologist in consultation with Dr Praveen Kulkarni, Senior Cardiologist, under whom she was admitted, decided to go ahead with other routine conservative treatment and intensive physical rehabilitation for her to make a full functional recovery.

Dr Pankaj Agarwal – Senior Neurologist at Global Hospital, Parel, said, “Stroke requires urgent attention. Dr Jain identified the early signs and the patient presented to the ER well within time for us to start the treatment. Availability of diagnostic aids in time is necessary and as she could not undergo a MRI, we decided to proceed with CT Scan. On realising that the infarct was affecting the speech area in the brain, we involved Piyush Gujarathi, Senior Audiologist & Speech Therapist for early recovery. Early-stage intensive and monitored rehabilitation along with speech and swallow therapy helps patients to regain their motor, sensory and other functions, in this case her speech.”

Dr Kiran Jain – Senior Consultant, Internal Medicine at Global Hospital, Parel, said, ” when her family called me, the early signs of stroke were visible and I told them to promptly take her to Global hospital. Appropriate imaging scans were done and treatment was started in the golden hour itself. Having good physiotherapy and audiology support helped her with the recovery and she could regain her speech within a week which according to the family was nothing short of a miracle. Availability of a multidisciplinary team of neurologist, cardiologist, speech therapist helped in getting her back to normal despite her comorbiditeis and age. Strokes are preventable, treatable, and beatable if one can think fast and reach the hospital at the right time. When one identifies your loved one has a stroke,  patient should be taken to the nearest facility which has all the diagnostic facilities like Ct / MRI and cathlab where the clot can be removed using latest interventional neuroradiology. Remember, in Stroke – BEFAST”