DAVAO CITY - Stroke, that sudden disabling attack or loss of consciousness caused by an interruption of the flow of blood to the brain, strike about 500,000 people in the Philippines each year.
This alarming statistic has made it the third leading cause of death and disability. To prevent the occurrence of stroke, the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association issued various guidelines for primary prevention of stroke and stressed the need for healthy habits and lifestyle.
The guidelines include primary prevention measures such as having regular screenings for high blood pressure, avoiding smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke, maintaining tight control of blood pressure (especially if you have diabetes), reducing salt intake and increasing intake of potassium, eating a diet high in fruit, vegetables, low-fat dairy products and low in saturated and total fat, lowering total cholesterol to acceptable levels, losing weight, doing a moderately intensive physical activity for a least 30 minutes a day, limiting alcohol intake, and avoiding the use illicit drugs.
Besides doing the said preventive measures, there is now a modern method to detect causes of stroke: the use of ultrasound. A study suggests that the same type of sound waves that pulsate from sonar fish-finders and ultrasound fetal monitors can dramatically boost the power of anti-clotting medicine and help it dissolve brain blockages in stroke patients.Ultrasound has long been used to diagnose strokes.
In recent years, research has intensified on whether it can also supercharge the clot-breaking medication. This technique may one day offer a safe accessory for helping up to 100,000 U.S. patients a year, or 15 percent of America ’s stroke victims, doctors said.
A first in Davao City and in Mindanao , this ultrasound machine known as the Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonography is a safe, noninvasive, and painless method of analyzing blood flow in the brain.
According to Dr. Annabelle Lao, a neurologist – psychiatrist with sub specialty in stroke and cerebral ultrasound, the blood that flows through the brain distributes nutrients to the brain and removes wastes.
This flow maintains the high rate of metabolism necessary for the brain to function. Restrictions in blood flow may occur from vessel narrowing (stenosis), clot formation (thrombosis), blockage (embolism), or blood vessel rupture (hemorrhage). Lack of sufficient blood flow (ischemia) threatens brain tissue and may cause a stroke.
By using the transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD) - done with either one or two probes placed on the temple, on the base of the skull at the back of the neck, or over the closed eyelid - the flow of blood through the arteries in the brain can be analyzed.
TCD is a form of ultrasound, in which high frequency sound waves bounce off or pass through body tissues. While most other types of ultrasonography create images of the tissue being studied, the results of TCD are audible sounds that the examiner listens to and records.
Doppler ultrasonography uses what is called the Doppler Effect to measure the rate and direction of blood flow in the vessels. Just as a siren's pitch sounds higher when its source is moving toward you and lower as it moves away, so too will ultrasound waves change pitch, or frequency, as they bounce off the red blood cells moving in the blood.
It is these pitch changes that produce the audible sounds during the exam.Changes in frequency can be used to measure both the direction and the speed of blood flow. Faster blood flow causes a greater change in frequency. Combined with other tests, this information can be used to locate restrictions in the blood vessels in the brain, and to track changes in blood flow over time.
In this way, TCD gives valuable information about the site of a stroke and the patient's progress after a stroke. TCD is also used to evaluate the contraction of blood vessels that can occur if a blood vessel ruptures.Besides being a safe, non-invasive and painless method, the TCD is also a more economical way to prevent and diagnose stroke.
There is no need to go to Manila or anywhere else in Asia to avail of this effortless treatment. Compared to CT angiography or MR angiography , the TCD is a cost-effective choice.
The TCD is now already available at room 119 Davao Medical School Hospital for inquiries please call mobile phone +63926-7880781.
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