What is stroke?

Stroke is a kind of large vessels disease which is divided into 2 main types - ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. The more common one is ischemic stroke which occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a narrow vessels or a clot, resulting in damage of body function controlled by the damaged brain tissues. Hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel ruptures, resulting in the permeation of blood into the brain.

Is there any warning signal for stroke?

Some stroke patients will experience transient ischemic attack (TIA) or "mini-stroke" which is a temporary lack of blood and oxygen supply to the brain. The symptoms usually last for a few minutes to a few hours. Mini-stroke is a serious warning sign of stroke; most people who have experienced TIA will have a larger chance of suffering from a real stroke later. If you experience one or more of the following conditions, seek for doctor's advice without delay:

• Sudden difficulty in seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Difficulty in speaking or understanding
• Sudden, severe headache with no known cause
• Sudden dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Difficulties in swallowing
• Pain on face
• Spasm on face or body
• Unconsciousness

What are the risk factors of stroke?

• Smoking
• Lack of exercise
• Chronic disease such as hypertension, heart problems, diabetes
• High cholesterol in blood
• Obesity
• Inborn brain vessels tumor or vascular sclerosis

What are the treatments of stroke?

There are 3 kinds of treatments which are immediate, rehabilitative and preventive treatments.

Immediate treatments

Using drug to

• Dissolve clots, or
• Reduce blood clots (using Warfarin) or
• Delay the tolerance level of brain cell when ischemic occurs to allow hemolysis (natural blood melting system) of the body to flow through blood vessels, or
• Lower brain pressure to allow blood flowing to the brain

Besides, surgery which breaks through the blood vessels by duct may also be adopted.

Rehabilitative treatments

Since stroke will affect the patient's body function seriously and damaged nervous systems of the patient need long term recovery, rehabilitative treatments are usually adopted to improve patient's ability to take care of himself/herself. These treatments include physiotherapy, occupational therapy, rehabilitative therapy, speech therapy and psychological service, etc.

What important points should stroke patients note for their daily consumption of food?

The patients should be put on diet and note the followings:

• Consume food with high roughage, low fat, low sugar and low cholesterol content
• Choose healthier cooking method such as steaming, stewing, scalding, baking, and quick fried with little oil
• Patients who are taking Warfarin should control consumption of Vitamin K because it is thromboplastic and will offset the effect of Wafarin. Food with Vitamin K content include:

1. Livers
2. Broccoli, cabbage, head lettuce, spinach, water spinach (avoid soup made of these vegetables)
3. Fruit such as kiwi, orange, mandarin
4. Seaweed such as kelp, laver
5. Bean such as soy beans, pea
6. Most Chinese herbs
7. Vitamin K supplements
8. Mushrooms

What action should be taken to prevent stroke?

• Stop smoking
• Maintain a regular lifestyle and stay happy
• Exercise regularly
• On diet, avoid fatty and sweet food
• Control body weight

Stroke patients should also receive medication and consult doctor regularly to prevent stroke from occurring again.

Special thanks:
Dr Andrew Hui, Specialist in Internal Medicine Central Consultative Clinic