LAHORE, Dec 19: Stroke, also called a brain attack, can be prevented by eating a balanced diet and exercising for 30 to 45 minutes daily. Maintaining a healthy weight, controlling blood pressure, cholesterol level and diabetes
, quitting tobacco smoking and managing heart disease were the other measures proposed by doctors from all over the world at the first Pakistan Stroke Conference, which concluded here on Sunday.
The moot was organized by the Pakistan Stroke Society at a hotel on the Mall. Eminent neurophysicians and surgeons from Pakistan, India, Qatar, USA and Canada discussed during the three-day moot new methods for stroke treatment and management, clot busters techniques and setting up of special centres to look after patients with acute stroke attack.
They said: "A brain attack happens when brain cells die because of inadequate blood flow and the body parts they control lose function. It can cause paralysis, speech problems, memory and reasoning deficits, coma, and possibly death."
Stroke happened suddenly and could be prevented by immediate response to warning signs and symptoms, which included sudden weakness or numbness of the face, arm or leg on one side of the body, sudden difficulties with speech and understanding what others are saying, sudden problems with vision - dimness or loss of vision, particularly in one eye, sudden dizziness sudden problems with walking.
Another warning sign, the transient ischemic attack (TIA), also called a 'mini-stroke,' could cause many of the same symptoms as a stroke, but its symptoms generally last for a few minutes. The TIA required immediate medical assistance otherwise it may lead to a stroke.
Two sessions were held on Sunday. Doctors Ashfaq Shuaib, Saad Shafqat and Adeel Rahman were the moderators of the first session on acute stroke care. Dr Ashfaq Shuaib from Canada, who is considered to be among the pioneers in the field of stroke treatment, explained emerging prevention strategies and the future of thrombolysis and neuroprotection in acute stroke.
Dr Nauman Amir, also from Canada, apprised the participants of anticoagulation in stroke - do's, don'ts and don't knows. Dr Irfan Altafullah from the US spoke about setting up a stroke centre while Dr Nadir Khan, also from the US, read a paper on stroke in the young and children.
In the second session on surgical neurology, doctors Anjum Habib Vohra, Athar Enam and Syed Ali Raza gave presentations on hemorrhagic stroke, sub-arachnoid hemorrhage and cereberal aneurysms, and surgical treatment for stroke, respectively.
The moderators were doctors Bashir Ahmad, Iftikhar Ali Raja and Anjum Habib Vohra. Pakistan Stroke Society President Dr Amer Ikram in his concluding remarks thanked the participants, especially King Edward Medical College's doctors Nasrullah and Naeem Kasuri and their team, for making the conference a success.
Dr Muhammad Wassay announced that a neurology conference would be organized in Quetta on April 16-17 next year while the second Pakistan Stroke Conference would be held in Karachi in December 2006.
