A stroke every 4 minutes, the Chartres hospital provides information on this primary cause of disability

See my news
Follow Chartres News

Every year, October 29 marks the World Stroke Awareness Day.

The Chartres hospital center (Eure-et-Loir) will organize an information day in this context on November 7, 2024 in the lobby of the Pasteur hospital.

Impaired blood circulation to the brain

Cerebrovascular accident (CVA) is the consequence of a impaired blood circulation towards the brain:

• Either an artery is blocked, then it is a ischemic stroke (80% of strokes),
• Either an artery ruptures, it causes a hemorrhage in the brain it’s hemorrhagic stroke (20% of strokes).

Brain cells are like this deprived of oxygen and fuel (glucose), leading to neurological sequelae. This is why stroke is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, the leading cause of acquired disability in adults and the second leading cause of dementia.

1 stroke every 4 minutes in France

In France, each year there are nearly 155,000 new cases of strokeor one every 4 minutes.

A paralysisa weakness or a numbness of a part or half of the body, but also a mouth deformityof the difficulty speakingthe loss of vision in one eyeof the balance problemscoordination or walking or even unusual headache must alert. It is then necessary call 15 without waiting.

We have very short deadlines: maximum 4h30 after the appearance of the first symptoms. The time factor is essential. Even more so when we know that one minute lost is equal to 2 million fewer neurons, and 15 minutes late increases the risk of disability by 16%.

The main causes of ischemic stroke

Contrary to a still widely held idea, strokes do not strike randomly and are not just for the elderly.

Stroke can occur at any age including infants, but the risk of having a stroke increases with age. (10% of strokes are under 40 years old; 3 out of 4 strokes are over 65 years old; 1000 pediatric strokes/year in France)

THE main causes are :

• high blood pressure.
• cardiac pathologies (in particular cardiac arrhythmia)
• atheroma (fatty plaques on the arteries),
• so-called metabolic risk factors: obesity, excess cholesterol and diabetes.
• Risk factors linked to poor lifestyle:
  – tobacco (smoking doubles the risk of stroke);
  – excessive alcohol consumption;
  – excess fat and sugar.

A unit dedicated to the Chartres hospital center and the 15 as a reflex

A neurovascular unit within the hospital center is dedicated to the management of strokes with a trained staff and a 24/7 on-call line.

Too many patients still go to their treating physician or the emergency room waiting for imaging to be performed, which wastes precious time for the patient’s survival and for limiting brain damage. You really have to call 15. The patient will be taken care of by an organized and coordinated circuit with all health professionals until their arrival in a neurovascular unit. UNVs have reduced stroke-related mortality by 30%.

Created in 2010 at the Louis Pasteur hospital center, the neurovascular unit has 4 intensive care beds and 12 dedicated beds in the management of acute stroke.

In Eure-et-Loir, the Dreux hospital center also has a UNV, the objective being that any stroke patient benefits from direct access to the nearest UNV after regulation by center 15.

“If the patient arrives by the 15th, we don’t waste time. There exists a protocol and everything is ready when the patient arrives. On the other hand, if the patient arrives on their own at the Emergency Department without notifying Center 15, we inevitably waste time,” insists Dr. Bohotin.

The UNV operates continuously 24 hours a day (on call from neurologists, the imaging department, etc.).

Unblocking the cerebral artery, a vital emergency

In the case of an ischemic stroke, if the patient is treated quickly, emergency treatment consists of unclog the cerebral artery.

Unblocking can be achieved:

• Either by administering treatment through the veins: the thrombolysis which will thin the blood and try to dissolve the clot, treatment carried out at the Chartres hospital center, (the treatment can be administered maximum 4h30 after the start of the symptoms)
• Either by carrying out a thrombectomie which consists of mechanically removing the clot from inside the arteries. This procedure is carried out by interventional neuroradiologists. This procedure is carried out in a Parisian hospital.

The two types of treatment can be administered together, a situation in which the patient receives the infusion in Chartres and is subsequently transferred to a Parisian UNV for the thrombectomy.

Unfortunately, these treatments are not suitable for all stroke patients.

An information day in the hospital hall

Professionals from the neurology department will offer a stand d’information in the lobby of the Louis Pasteur hospital from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

On the program :

• And quiz game to “test your knowledge”,
• Of the advice,
• Of the screening workshops : blood pressure monitoring, diabetes screening and atrial fibrillation screening for people aged over 65 with the Chartres Dean Lions Club. This develops this preventive action which consists of making available free of charge in pharmacies in Chartres (then in the urban area and then in the department) a device called Mydiagnostic which allows you to detect heart rhythm disorders in one minute and therefore whether a person is at risk of suffering a stroke or not.

To find out more about this new device, click HERE.

█ Practical:
Stroke Awareness Day Thursday November 7, 2024
in the reception hall of the Chartres hospital center in Coudray. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon Actu.