Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
News Network. They get Ahead of Stroke campaign aims at
increasing awareness of stroke symptoms and the importance of calling
nine to one one right away for the best possible
chance to survive and thrive after stroke. Today, we're going
to talk about getting ahead of Stroke with doctor g
Army Dabos. He's a board certified interventional neurologist. Doctor Dabos
(00:33):
I had a stroke two and a half years ago.
What is the first thing a person should do when
they think they're having a stroke?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
John, The most important thing with your think that you're
having a stroke. So you start to have any kind
of symptom that you think maybe a stroke, you need
to call nine one one, right okay. The MS personnel
are the right people to come in evaluate and take
you to the appropriate place for this possible stroke. So
you know, don't think, don't have second thought. If you
(01:00):
think you're having a stroke. Any symptom that could be
a stroke, like symptom, you need to call nine one one.
They will bring you. They will take it to the
right place for you to go where it can be
treated for this possible stroke. So that's the first thing
to be done. Recognize and call nine one one.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
What what are some of the symptoms that you have
that leads you to call nine one one. We think,
oh this my hand is non my whatever, I'm talking weird?
What do you what do you think? And you go,
I better call nine one one what are some of
those symptoms?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
So that's a very good question. That's a rainportant question, right,
So for you to recognize it having a stroke, there
are some ways you can do it in a very
fast way. Right, So we use some acronym called b fast.
These for balance, So if you're having balanced if you
cannot walk around straight. These four. If you have visual problems,
if you cannot see from one eye or having problems
(01:51):
with your vision. Another possible reason for a reason for
a stroke F or face if your face is drooping.
Possible stroke symptom A for arm if you have weakness
in your arm or in your leg. Of course, then
there's another reason to call nine one one for for
a possibization of stroke and ask for speech. So if
(02:13):
you're having a problem to speak, or if you have
problems to comprehend another symptom for over a possible stroke.
And then ten T, which is a very important one
is for time. It's very very important that you do
not waste time. Stroke is time sensitive, So the longer
you wait, the less likely you have a good recovery.
So again, immediately you recognize having a symptom or you
(02:36):
think you're having a stroke symptom, call nine one one
so you can get to the appropriate place where you
can be treated and then you can survive a stroke.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
If you have a stroke, have you think you're having
a stroke, how how much damage is done? With which
each minute, each minute, or each each hour or whatever,
how much damage does done? How fast you do you
get there?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
So it's is a very good question. So basically in
our brain, we have about eighty six billion neurons, which
is the brain cell. Okay, So for every minute that
you're having a stroke, okay, meaning like the blood flow
is not getting through your brain on that part of
the brain, the kind of your brain cells are dying
a rate of about two million per minute. So think
(03:21):
about and if you do the math, the longer you're waiting,
the more neurals you're just losing, like NonStop neurals, you know,
until you can get to the place where you can
get treated and the blood flow to your brain re established.
It's when actually there loss of neural moving stuff, and
that's the aim of the treatment the brain. Of the
treatment is really to reestablish the blood flow to your brain.
(03:42):
So actually the part of the brain that is suffering
from the lack of auxygen, lack of blood, you know,
will get the blood flow getting restored. You know, the
viability of those cells get back, well, they actually won't die,
and part of that brain kind of recovers. And that's
why the pages that are treated very quickly after a stroke,
those are the ones that really have the greatest chance
(04:04):
of surviving and actually having a life after the treatment
with very minimal or no visibilities at all.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Right, Right, in my case, it took about two years
to recover, and I'm almost fully recovered, but still it
takes a long time. And that was going right to
the hospital, getting right there. So it's critical. How how
many people have a stroke today? That kind of a
day daily today, how many people have had a stroke
around the country.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, so yeah, no, I mean it's the number of
stroke cases per year in the United States about eight
hundred thousand, so basically almost like just over two thousand
people suffer a stroke every day. I mean, it's a
huge number if you think about it. Yeah, right, so
that's why I think now you know, it's import to understand. Also,
there's a couple of different types of stroke. The ones
(04:52):
that we're mostly talking about is this chemmick stroke when
basically the blood flow gets blocked to your brain. That's
the most common one. That's about like eighty to eighty
five percent of all the strokes. But there's the other
fifteen percent, which is actually the brick. You know, different
types of brain bleed, right, brain androism, work from hypertension
and things like that.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
So what are the talk about that? What are some
of the Now mine is the breed bleed. It happened.
It happened very right away inside my brain, very acute.
But talk about the different ones and what each means.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah, so you know, again, the most common type of
stroke is the one that basically your blood flow gets well,
the blood the flow to to your brain gets obstructed. Right,
so you have a claw that forms a lot of
times in your heart. The thought goes up to your
brain and blocks the blood flow to part of your brain.
That's what do you call it like a schemic stroke,
and even within the schemic stroke, they are different types.
(05:47):
The ones that are very important, I mean, all the
strokes are important, but the ones that we can be
you know, active, because they're very devastating if nothing is done.
Is where you have like a big mess in your
brain that gets blocked, because then a big part of
your brain is not receiving blood. So you want to
go ahead and again get the treatment right away. Right.
So again, the chemic types of stroke where the blood
(06:09):
is not getting into the brain are the most common types, right,
So eighty five percent of them, and then you have
and those are the symptoms that I explained with the
beef fast balanced, eye problems, face arm problems, speech problems,
and time we need to move fast. Right. The other
fifteen percent are the homorohogic ones, so they're a little
bit different. A lot of times the symptoms are similar
(06:29):
to the stroke symptoms that I mentioned, but sometimes it
can be even like just a very severe grouped on
side of a headache, So those are different. I mean still,
I mean, if you're having symptoms of stroke, you need
to call a nine one run and you need to
get to the hostile because in the hostile is when
it's going to be determined what kind of stroke you're having,
and again, what will be the possibilities, like the management
(06:52):
options that you're going to have there, that's going to
be determined by the care.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Team that will take care of you, what type of
when you get to the hospital, what do they do
then what do they do to you?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, so first of all, of course you're going to
get to the hostel, You're going to be evalued very
quickly by a lot of places. If you're going to
specific stroke places, place that are used to treat a
lot of stroke, you're going to be devalued very quickly
by a stroke team. This could be a stroke nurse,
a neurologist, any dephysician, you know, someone will see you
very quick And the first thing you're going to do
(07:22):
after they determined what kind of symptoms you're having, how
bad the stroke you're having, you're going to get a
cat scan, So they're going to do like a cat's
can of your brain. And then it's where it's going
to be determined what kind of stroke you're potentially having,
because the cat's can is very good to determine if
you're having a big bleed in your brain, or if
you're you know, if you don't have a bleed in
maybe having a chemic stroke. So that's usually the first step.
(07:46):
Then after that's done, that is going to be depending
on what's you know, what's going on and what kind
of symptoms you're having. There are other tests this could
be performed, including a CTA where contrast like you know,
a contrast die is injected through an IV in your
arm and then it maps up all the vessels in
your brain and then we can see, for example, where
the blockage is, so we know exactly where what needs
(08:08):
to be treated. Those are usually the first steps. Yeah,
until that's determined what kind of stroke you're having.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You just you just said exactly what they did with me.
You said exactly what they did. Yeah, when I got
to the hospital really quick and they started, I got
sawy rollers when you're in minutes and they were quick.
They were very quick. If they hadn't been quick, I
wouldn't be here. So I appreciate that very much. They
knew what kind of had and they were able to
go from there. But still I had to have surgery.
(08:36):
Now you don't have to have surgery always right, yes.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
For the stroke. Right, So let's say that you do.
You know with the ct scan and the CTA that
is done, and if the clinical assessment is determined that
you have what we call like a large vessel houtter.
So basically there's an important vessel in your brain, an
important artery which is what brings the blood to your
brain that is totally blocked right right, So at that
time there's going to be a determination. See, independent of
(08:59):
the time you're in the hostel, you may receive a
trombolytic I V, which is a medication that tries to
break the blood clock, but for these larger strokes a
lot of times that's not going to be very effective.
And even knowing that it's still going to have it,
you need to have the surgery, which is a caster
based surfuit. So basically a stroke interventionalist or a stroke surgeon,
(09:20):
theventional neragiologists can go in through the growing or through
your wrist, navigate our casters all the way to your
brain and basically remove that clod that's blood that is
blocking the blood flow, and with that restore the blood
flow to your brain so you can recover and and
survive that and.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
That blood flow is not It's not it's not flowing
through your brain at that point, is it. It's just
which is why it's critical that time. Time is so critical,
right exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
That's why it's so critical, right because, as I mentioned before,
at the time that the vessel gets blocked to that
part of the brain so that the blood is not
getting there, those cells in your brain start to die immediately.
So what we do when we do the surgery is
that actually we're trying to spare as much brain as
we can because since the cells start to die immediately,
(10:14):
there's always going to be a small kind of brain
damage that happens. But our intent of the procedure is
to make sure that this brain damage is as small
as possibly can be, so most of the brain is
still totally normal. And that's when people really have the
greatest chance of recovering well from it, and again will
be their no disability or very mild disability, but going
(10:35):
being able to go back to their normal lives.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, it's amazing. Now, how about that how many people
go back to normal lives versus the people that don't.
They have to go to a nursing home or something
like that, or are they set at home, they still
they're halfway, they can't walk or whatever? What about that?
How does that happen?
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah, so that's that's a very good question. That's very important.
So even knowing that we can do this person, it's
important to understand there's still a lot of patients even
if those procedures may still not do very well, but
we are increasing that chance by all the data that
we have. You know, if you don't do this, if
you do have this vessel's block and you don't do
anything for that, as long as your candidate for it,
(11:15):
of course, your chance of recovering can be somewhere between
ten to fifteen to twenty percent if nothing is done.
But during the procedure, this chance can go up to
almost fifty percent. Sometimes depend understand that they look into
even a little bit higher than that. So basically that's
a huge difference if you think about right, it's a
thirty percent difference, and it's it's really the true difference
(11:39):
between life and death, or at least life with really
a lot of disability and not being able to take
care of yourself versus like a life that is independent.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Right, what are some of the things that you should do,
like your diet or your medications, or what are the
things that maybe cause it that you need to change
going forward or after you get through this whole terrible situation,
what do you change then your life?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Yeah, So preventive measures for a stroke are very well
known and has you know, have been. It's very similar
to the same thing they do for you know, heart
health for example. Right, So make sure your blood paths
are control your cholesterous control diabetes, you know, do a
better job of your diet, exercise, right, don't smoke. But
and if you have a heart problem, you know, make
(12:28):
sure you take the appropriate medication, particularly some some what
we call like areathin is where your heart's not really
like pumping the blood and the regular rhythm. So those
faces are prompts formed clot and potentially can the spots
can go to their brain and causes these larger strokes.
So you need to be on blood pinners a lot
of times for that. So it's very important to you're
compliant with all of that. But it's important to understand
(12:49):
that really even doing everything you can, strokes will still
happen to certain patients. Right, So the important thing I
think that's the key message of the Survives Stroke quick
is really that even if you are having symptoms, if
you do have a stroke, you can survive it as
long as you get to that hostel as fast as
possible and get that stroke taken care of, right right.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
I know you've had an increase among Hispanics then having
stroke strokes more and why why why do they have
strokes higher than most people?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Yeah, you know, I think we don't have like the
key things why this happened. We just know that this
stroke is going up in Hispanic populations. So I think
the again, the important thing is that a lot of
times we don't have the answers for it. The important
thing is that if you do have, you know, the
idea that you're potentially having the stroke, that you're reaching
(13:44):
out to nine one one because there's a lot of
other issues that are important. You know, for example, there's
less activation of the MS in certain populations, so there's
some disparities, there's some you know, different access issues in
different populations. So I think again the key thing is
to really bring it to mind that strokes can happen
in anyone. Of course, the number of strokes is going
(14:06):
off a little bit in the Hispanic populations, but still
it is treatable. If you think you're having a stroke,
going in on one, get to the hospitals as possible,
as fast as possible, and give you give you the
best chance of being treated and getting out of the hospital,
maybe not completely the way you came in or you
know you were before you had the stroke, but at
(14:29):
least very close to it and with time getting back
to what you were before.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Could be in a Hispanic population that maybe they say, well,
the stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke, and it's too late by
the time they get help, or something like that. They
I think that the attitude sometimes people have is so
especially guys, is don't worry about it. It's not it's
not a stroke. I almost did it too. It's it's nothing,
everything fine now and going a matter your business. And
(14:55):
that was a stroke? Is that something that maybe happens.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I think you know that can happen to any kind
of population, any kind of group. But I think you're
correct in the sense that there's a lot of variability,
like cultural differences. Right now people interpret stroke. And the
other thing that I always tell patients sometimes is that remember,
if you're having a heart attack. Right, what is the
(15:18):
most commonsome You have a very strong chest pain, right,
Nobody will say, oh, it's just a chess pin forget
about it, right, you know, let's see how it goes,
because then you're probably gonna die. Right, and the stroke
should be the same thing. And this is something that
we see now it's not a specific for Hispanic population
like we see this with everyone. Right. The patients sometimes
(15:39):
just start to dismiss the symptom of stroke. They think, oh,
you know, maybe it's gonna improve, Maybe it's gonna improve,
and then it starts to get worse, and then when
you get to the hospital you miss the chance of
being treated, and then there's nothing to do, and now
you're blind or you cannot move part of your body.
You know, it will take longer to recover from that.
So again I think your point with this very valid point,
(16:00):
and it's that you know, you should not dismiss any
kind of symptom. If you're having symptoms that you think
it could be a stroke, don't waste time, you know,
calling on them. One.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Yeah, I almost mine started. I started having tis, which
are small strokes, and then it went away and I thought, oh,
maybe it's not that, but I almost didn't do it,
and I went ahead and did it, and I'm glad
I did because I lived. I lived, And so it's
it's key to get to that hospital fast, get it
(16:32):
there as fast as you can. I'm lucky that only
live a mile from a hospital. So uh, but that's
not the case always, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, you're absolutely correct. And that's why I think this is,
you know, doing work like this week. For example, if
it survives a stroke quick, it's so important to really
again you know, have people really understand that that's a
life threatening thing but it's treatable. Yeah, it's a time
sensitive thing. So that's why it's so that people don't
(17:00):
waste time and just come to the hostle, to the
appropriate hostel where they can be treated and survive it
and with again with thoseability or with minimal disability, which
is the intent of the procedure right there.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yeah, and that is what you wanted to do. You're
wanting people to get ahead of stroke, get ahead of
it when it happens, go to the hospital right away
and do it and tell us again what some of
the signs are of the stroke.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
So again, I mean, just to make things very simple
and there's a lot of symptoms, but we use this
acronym and that's what we try to really, you know,
raise awareness to the population. This acronym called B fast,
which is B four balance. So again if you're having
problems with balance, E four I if you have trouble
of your vision or you cannot see, or if you
have any kind of visual problem. And then F for
(17:51):
face if your face is drooping. Now the very important science.
A for arms, so you can actually just ask someone
to just raise your arms. And sometimes you have a
stroke when arm will drop or if you have weakness
in your arm. And just the same thing for the lag.
As for speech, if you have problem to speak, if
you have a problems to understand, if your speech is lured,
(18:12):
very important sign of stroke. And T again for time. Again,
strokes are time sensitive issue. So the sooner you get
to the house and the sooner you get treated, the
greater chances of recovering from it. So T remember do
not waste time. If you have any symptom that could
you think could be a stroke, just caught in one
one and get it checked.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, because it's is it so like not all the
stroke symptoms are the same one person is this and
this and even recovering they have different ones too, is it?
No two strokes are alike? Is that kind of the
way the normal thing?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So a lot of the strokes, they can be a
like I mean, remember, like when the stroke happens, you know,
it's because the blood flow is impeded to part of
your brain, right, So the vassal is blocked into part
of your brain. So what that means that that part
of the brain is going to be the ones that's
going to be suffering that stroke, right, the rest of
your brain will be working normal, right, right, So that's
(19:12):
why it's so it's so sometimes very different from patients
to patient because it really depends which vassel get blocked
and our brain function, you know, it's all you know,
it's all split throughout the brain. So if a stroke
in one area can cause proms move part of your body,
it's stroke in another area can cause only problems to speak.
Another type of stroke can cause can be actually can
(19:35):
make it to be completely comatose. And so there's a
lot of different So they're all like symptoms of strokes.
So again that's the important part. If you recognize any
kind of symptom. They could be stroke weakness, sensory changes,
promos to speak, problems with your vision, prohams of balance,
bass drooping. Just again, don't waste time. Contact nine one
(19:57):
one Emergency Services come to they will Actually EMS is
very good and most of the country as an asset
work very closely with them to really pass actually legislation
that will have EMS take the patients will possible important
stroke to comprehensive stroke centers or level one stroke centers
where they can actually have any kind of stroke treatment.
(20:20):
So that's very very important.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Yeah, it is very important. Speaking of that. At the
EMS nine one one they have a strokebuster medication and
they have it the hospital too. They talk about that
in the medication when it can work and when it
can't work and all of that.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah, So the stroke medication, I mean most of the
places the EMS is not going to give you in
the ambulance. They will take you to the hostel, the
closest oft where you can get that. And the cloud
buster medication is basically it is a medication is given
an IV right, so through an IV and the idea
that is going to try to break the clock. The
problems that we have some of the thoughts are very
(20:57):
large and they are very resistant to that medication. So
a lot of those cases specifically, which are the worst
step of strokes, that's when you need to do the surgery,
so the thrown backtomy where basically go again to the
caster based procedure or you go there and remove the
clots to establish the blood sools your brain.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
So they do that at the hospital and that's the
best part they do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't
even know if I got one. I don't even know.
I was so out of it.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
So some patients may not be a candidate for the
IV medication right, because it really depends on the time.
So that's another reason why you need to come to
the hospital. That's fast possible because if you're a candidate
for it independent, if you're still going to need the
caster surgery, you will receive the IV trombolytic, which is
the cloudbuster medication. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah, I had the surgery, the full full surgery, everything done,
all done to me. You know this is it costs
a lot of money. You think about how much it
costs the world wide, Like what is it fifty six
billion dollars just costing now for strokes. They're really costing money.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Right, It costs a lot of money if you think
about it, and you have a lot of stroke patients, Well,
several strow patients are older, but several spatients are still
young and in really working age. So if you have
a stroke and you do not recover for it, you
have all the direct costs of taking care of the patient, right,
so you know all that we have skilled nursing facility,
(22:26):
you know. But even more important than that, it is
really all the costs of this person not getting back
the full functional life, right, So I'm not working, not
being able to contribute to society. So all the costs
putting together direct in indirect costs, it's a huge amount
of numbers, like as you mentioned, like in the order
of like sixty seventy billion dollars.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yeah, it is amazing. I was fifty eight when I
had my stroke, and and I still had I'm working now,
and I look like, look what I would have done
if it couldn't have worked anymore, I'd have been missed
up bad. So yeah, it's it would cost me a
lot of money.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
I don't and it's and I think you know, there
is one of the things that we always say. Right,
the stroke is the fifth leading cause, leading motality cause
of death in the United States, but it's actually the
leading cause of divisibility and for a lot of things.
To the stroke, visibility is way more important, right because
several paints may not die from the stroke. But you know,
if you have someone you give your example, you're like
(23:24):
on your you know, late fifties. Some patients sometimes are
younger than that. Yeah, and then you cannot go back
to work and it's too need like you know, full
time assisted care. I mean, just think about like just
a big burden not only is your family, but also
to society.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
I know it affected my speech and so I couldn't
do this. I couldn't be doing the show with you
now if it's my speech from este.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yeah, so I'm glad you were able to recover.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Yeah, I may, thank you, thank you. Uh, it's still
I still get tired, that's what. That's the only thing
I have. But if I have that, I'm fine, you
know what I mean. And uh, And it's all because
I got to the hospital right away, right away. And
that's what I tell people all the time. If you
think you're having a stroke, even if you're not having
a stroke, go go because I've been in that situation too,
(24:12):
and you should go. Just go. Yeah, it's better to
find out that you're not having one, right.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
That's correct. Yea, it's bad find out you're not having
one than missing the opportunity of treating one that's happening. Right.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, Where can you go and find out about this
and other things regarding a stroke?
Speaker 2 (24:28):
There's plenty of resources. You know A S and I
as whig is the site of their international surgery. They
have on their website. You can go into it. There's
other resources like the American Art Association. So you know,
nowadays in the air of Internet, it's very easy to
find information, right, But I will also acknowledge that you
always need to look in sources. They're reliable, so you
(24:49):
don't get like miss information.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
As well, right, Doctor Dabos, I thank you so much,
and I thank you for what you do and helping
people with strokes. I thank you so much. And there's
there's so much money do go.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Very welcome. My pleasure to be part of it.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Thank you very much, and I appreciate you helping those
people who have strokes, and you're gonna help them today
because we're gonna put this out. Thank you very much,
Thank you very much. That's doctor g Army Dabos talking
about stroke. Remember if you suffer any of those symptoms,
called nine to one one immediately and get to the hospital.
To find out more about stroke, visit get Ahead of
(25:24):
Stroke dot org. For questions or comments on today's program,
you can email me John Clark at Georgiannewsnetwork dot com.
Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you next week right
here on your local radio station on Georgia Focus.
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
News Network. They get Ahead of Stroke campaign aims at
increasing awareness of stroke symptoms and the importance of calling
nine to one one right away for the best possible
chance to survive and thrive after stroke. Today, we're going
to talk about getting ahead of Stroke with doctor g
Army Dabos. He's a board certified interventional neurologist. Doctor Dabos
(00:33):
I had a stroke two and a half years ago.
What is the first thing a person should do when
they think they're having a stroke?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
John, The most important thing with your think that you're
having a stroke. So you start to have any kind
of symptom that you think maybe a stroke, you need
to call nine one one, right okay. The MS personnel
are the right people to come in evaluate and take
you to the appropriate place for this possible stroke. So
you know, don't think, don't have second thought. If you
(01:00):
think you're having a stroke. Any symptom that could be
a stroke, like symptom, you need to call nine one one.
They will bring you. They will take it to the
right place for you to go where it can be
treated for this possible stroke. So that's the first thing
to be done. Recognize and call nine one one.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
What what are some of the symptoms that you have
that leads you to call nine one one. We think,
oh this my hand is non my whatever, I'm talking weird?
What do you what do you think? And you go,
I better call nine one one what are some of
those symptoms?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
So that's a very good question. That's a rainportant question, right,
So for you to recognize it having a stroke, there
are some ways you can do it in a very
fast way. Right, So we use some acronym called b fast.
These for balance, So if you're having balanced if you
cannot walk around straight. These four. If you have visual problems,
if you cannot see from one eye or having problems
(01:51):
with your vision. Another possible reason for a reason for
a stroke F or face if your face is drooping.
Possible stroke symptom A for arm if you have weakness
in your arm or in your leg. Of course, then
there's another reason to call nine one one for for
a possibization of stroke and ask for speech. So if
(02:13):
you're having a problem to speak, or if you have
problems to comprehend another symptom for over a possible stroke.
And then ten T, which is a very important one
is for time. It's very very important that you do
not waste time. Stroke is time sensitive, So the longer
you wait, the less likely you have a good recovery.
So again, immediately you recognize having a symptom or you
(02:36):
think you're having a stroke symptom, call nine one one
so you can get to the appropriate place where you
can be treated and then you can survive a stroke.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
If you have a stroke, have you think you're having
a stroke, how how much damage is done? With which
each minute, each minute, or each each hour or whatever,
how much damage does done? How fast you do you
get there?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
So it's is a very good question. So basically in
our brain, we have about eighty six billion neurons, which
is the brain cell. Okay, So for every minute that
you're having a stroke, okay, meaning like the blood flow
is not getting through your brain on that part of
the brain, the kind of your brain cells are dying
a rate of about two million per minute. So think
(03:21):
about and if you do the math, the longer you're waiting,
the more neurals you're just losing, like NonStop neurals, you know,
until you can get to the place where you can
get treated and the blood flow to your brain re established.
It's when actually there loss of neural moving stuff, and
that's the aim of the treatment the brain. Of the
treatment is really to reestablish the blood flow to your brain.
(03:42):
So actually the part of the brain that is suffering
from the lack of auxygen, lack of blood, you know,
will get the blood flow getting restored. You know, the
viability of those cells get back, well, they actually won't die,
and part of that brain kind of recovers. And that's
why the pages that are treated very quickly after a stroke,
those are the ones that really have the greatest chance
(04:04):
of surviving and actually having a life after the treatment
with very minimal or no visibilities at all.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Right, Right, in my case, it took about two years
to recover, and I'm almost fully recovered, but still it
takes a long time. And that was going right to
the hospital, getting right there. So it's critical. How how
many people have a stroke today? That kind of a
day daily today, how many people have had a stroke
around the country.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, so yeah, no, I mean it's the number of
stroke cases per year in the United States about eight
hundred thousand, so basically almost like just over two thousand
people suffer a stroke every day. I mean, it's a
huge number if you think about it. Yeah, right, so
that's why I think now you know, it's import to understand. Also,
there's a couple of different types of stroke. The ones
(04:52):
that we're mostly talking about is this chemmick stroke when
basically the blood flow gets blocked to your brain. That's
the most common one. That's about like eighty to eighty
five percent of all the strokes. But there's the other
fifteen percent, which is actually the brick. You know, different
types of brain bleed, right, brain androism, work from hypertension
and things like that.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
So what are the talk about that? What are some
of the Now mine is the breed bleed. It happened.
It happened very right away inside my brain, very acute.
But talk about the different ones and what each means.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah, so you know, again, the most common type of
stroke is the one that basically your blood flow gets well,
the blood the flow to to your brain gets obstructed. Right,
so you have a claw that forms a lot of
times in your heart. The thought goes up to your
brain and blocks the blood flow to part of your brain.
That's what do you call it like a schemic stroke,
and even within the schemic stroke, they are different types.
(05:47):
The ones that are very important, I mean, all the
strokes are important, but the ones that we can be
you know, active, because they're very devastating if nothing is done.
Is where you have like a big mess in your
brain that gets blocked, because then a big part of
your brain is not receiving blood. So you want to
go ahead and again get the treatment right away. Right.
So again, the chemic types of stroke where the blood
(06:09):
is not getting into the brain are the most common types, right,
So eighty five percent of them, and then you have
and those are the symptoms that I explained with the
beef fast balanced, eye problems, face arm problems, speech problems,
and time we need to move fast. Right. The other
fifteen percent are the homorohogic ones, so they're a little
bit different. A lot of times the symptoms are similar
(06:29):
to the stroke symptoms that I mentioned, but sometimes it
can be even like just a very severe grouped on
side of a headache, So those are different. I mean still,
I mean, if you're having symptoms of stroke, you need
to call a nine one run and you need to
get to the hostile because in the hostile is when
it's going to be determined what kind of stroke you're having,
and again, what will be the possibilities, like the management
(06:52):
options that you're going to have there, that's going to
be determined by the care.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Team that will take care of you, what type of
when you get to the hospital, what do they do
then what do they do to you?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, so first of all, of course you're going to
get to the hostel, You're going to be evalued very
quickly by a lot of places. If you're going to
specific stroke places, place that are used to treat a
lot of stroke, you're going to be devalued very quickly
by a stroke team. This could be a stroke nurse,
a neurologist, any dephysician, you know, someone will see you
very quick And the first thing you're going to do
(07:22):
after they determined what kind of symptoms you're having, how
bad the stroke you're having, you're going to get a
cat scan, So they're going to do like a cat's
can of your brain. And then it's where it's going
to be determined what kind of stroke you're potentially having,
because the cat's can is very good to determine if
you're having a big bleed in your brain, or if
you're you know, if you don't have a bleed in
maybe having a chemic stroke. So that's usually the first step.
(07:46):
Then after that's done, that is going to be depending
on what's you know, what's going on and what kind
of symptoms you're having. There are other tests this could
be performed, including a CTA where contrast like you know,
a contrast die is injected through an IV in your
arm and then it maps up all the vessels in
your brain and then we can see, for example, where
the blockage is, so we know exactly where what needs
(08:08):
to be treated. Those are usually the first steps. Yeah,
until that's determined what kind of stroke you're having.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You just you just said exactly what they did with me.
You said exactly what they did. Yeah, when I got
to the hospital really quick and they started, I got
sawy rollers when you're in minutes and they were quick.
They were very quick. If they hadn't been quick, I
wouldn't be here. So I appreciate that very much. They
knew what kind of had and they were able to
go from there. But still I had to have surgery.
(08:36):
Now you don't have to have surgery always right, yes.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
For the stroke. Right, So let's say that you do.
You know with the ct scan and the CTA that
is done, and if the clinical assessment is determined that
you have what we call like a large vessel houtter.
So basically there's an important vessel in your brain, an
important artery which is what brings the blood to your
brain that is totally blocked right right, So at that
time there's going to be a determination. See, independent of
(08:59):
the time you're in the hostel, you may receive a
trombolytic I V, which is a medication that tries to
break the blood clock, but for these larger strokes a
lot of times that's not going to be very effective.
And even knowing that it's still going to have it,
you need to have the surgery, which is a caster
based surfuit. So basically a stroke interventionalist or a stroke surgeon,
(09:20):
theventional neragiologists can go in through the growing or through
your wrist, navigate our casters all the way to your
brain and basically remove that clod that's blood that is
blocking the blood flow, and with that restore the blood
flow to your brain so you can recover and and
survive that and.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
That blood flow is not It's not it's not flowing
through your brain at that point, is it. It's just
which is why it's critical that time. Time is so critical,
right exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
That's why it's so critical, right because, as I mentioned before,
at the time that the vessel gets blocked to that
part of the brain so that the blood is not
getting there, those cells in your brain start to die immediately.
So what we do when we do the surgery is
that actually we're trying to spare as much brain as
we can because since the cells start to die immediately,
(10:14):
there's always going to be a small kind of brain
damage that happens. But our intent of the procedure is
to make sure that this brain damage is as small
as possibly can be, so most of the brain is
still totally normal. And that's when people really have the
greatest chance of recovering well from it, and again will
be their no disability or very mild disability, but going
(10:35):
being able to go back to their normal lives.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, it's amazing. Now, how about that how many people
go back to normal lives versus the people that don't.
They have to go to a nursing home or something
like that, or are they set at home, they still
they're halfway, they can't walk or whatever? What about that?
How does that happen?
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah, so that's that's a very good question. That's very important.
So even knowing that we can do this person, it's
important to understand there's still a lot of patients even
if those procedures may still not do very well, but
we are increasing that chance by all the data that
we have. You know, if you don't do this, if
you do have this vessel's block and you don't do
anything for that, as long as your candidate for it,
(11:15):
of course, your chance of recovering can be somewhere between
ten to fifteen to twenty percent if nothing is done.
But during the procedure, this chance can go up to
almost fifty percent. Sometimes depend understand that they look into
even a little bit higher than that. So basically that's
a huge difference if you think about right, it's a
thirty percent difference, and it's it's really the true difference
(11:39):
between life and death, or at least life with really
a lot of disability and not being able to take
care of yourself versus like a life that is independent.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Right, what are some of the things that you should do,
like your diet or your medications, or what are the
things that maybe cause it that you need to change
going forward or after you get through this whole terrible situation,
what do you change then your life?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Yeah, So preventive measures for a stroke are very well
known and has you know, have been. It's very similar
to the same thing they do for you know, heart
health for example. Right, So make sure your blood paths
are control your cholesterous control diabetes, you know, do a
better job of your diet, exercise, right, don't smoke. But
and if you have a heart problem, you know, make
(12:28):
sure you take the appropriate medication, particularly some some what
we call like areathin is where your heart's not really
like pumping the blood and the regular rhythm. So those
faces are prompts formed clot and potentially can the spots
can go to their brain and causes these larger strokes.
So you need to be on blood pinners a lot
of times for that. So it's very important to you're
compliant with all of that. But it's important to understand
(12:49):
that really even doing everything you can, strokes will still
happen to certain patients. Right, So the important thing I
think that's the key message of the Survives Stroke quick
is really that even if you are having symptoms, if
you do have a stroke, you can survive it as
long as you get to that hostel as fast as
possible and get that stroke taken care of, right right.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
I know you've had an increase among Hispanics then having
stroke strokes more and why why why do they have
strokes higher than most people?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Yeah, you know, I think we don't have like the
key things why this happened. We just know that this
stroke is going up in Hispanic populations. So I think
the again, the important thing is that a lot of
times we don't have the answers for it. The important
thing is that if you do have, you know, the
idea that you're potentially having the stroke, that you're reaching
(13:44):
out to nine one one because there's a lot of
other issues that are important. You know, for example, there's
less activation of the MS in certain populations, so there's
some disparities, there's some you know, different access issues in
different populations. So I think again the key thing is
to really bring it to mind that strokes can happen
in anyone. Of course, the number of strokes is going
(14:06):
off a little bit in the Hispanic populations, but still
it is treatable. If you think you're having a stroke,
going in on one, get to the hospitals as possible,
as fast as possible, and give you give you the
best chance of being treated and getting out of the hospital,
maybe not completely the way you came in or you
know you were before you had the stroke, but at
(14:29):
least very close to it and with time getting back
to what you were before.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Could be in a Hispanic population that maybe they say, well,
the stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke, and it's too late by
the time they get help, or something like that. They
I think that the attitude sometimes people have is so
especially guys, is don't worry about it. It's not it's
not a stroke. I almost did it too. It's it's nothing,
everything fine now and going a matter your business. And
(14:55):
that was a stroke? Is that something that maybe happens.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I think you know that can happen to any kind
of population, any kind of group. But I think you're
correct in the sense that there's a lot of variability,
like cultural differences. Right now people interpret stroke. And the
other thing that I always tell patients sometimes is that remember,
if you're having a heart attack. Right, what is the
(15:18):
most commonsome You have a very strong chest pain, right,
Nobody will say, oh, it's just a chess pin forget
about it, right, you know, let's see how it goes,
because then you're probably gonna die. Right, and the stroke
should be the same thing. And this is something that
we see now it's not a specific for Hispanic population
like we see this with everyone. Right. The patients sometimes
(15:39):
just start to dismiss the symptom of stroke. They think, oh,
you know, maybe it's gonna improve, Maybe it's gonna improve,
and then it starts to get worse, and then when
you get to the hospital you miss the chance of
being treated, and then there's nothing to do, and now
you're blind or you cannot move part of your body.
You know, it will take longer to recover from that.
So again I think your point with this very valid point,
(16:00):
and it's that you know, you should not dismiss any
kind of symptom. If you're having symptoms that you think
it could be a stroke, don't waste time, you know,
calling on them. One.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Yeah, I almost mine started. I started having tis, which
are small strokes, and then it went away and I thought, oh,
maybe it's not that, but I almost didn't do it,
and I went ahead and did it, and I'm glad
I did because I lived. I lived, And so it's
it's key to get to that hospital fast, get it
(16:32):
there as fast as you can. I'm lucky that only
live a mile from a hospital. So uh, but that's
not the case always, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, you're absolutely correct. And that's why I think this is,
you know, doing work like this week. For example, if
it survives a stroke quick, it's so important to really
again you know, have people really understand that that's a
life threatening thing but it's treatable. Yeah, it's a time
sensitive thing. So that's why it's so that people don't
(17:00):
waste time and just come to the hostle, to the
appropriate hostel where they can be treated and survive it
and with again with thoseability or with minimal disability, which
is the intent of the procedure right there.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yeah, and that is what you wanted to do. You're
wanting people to get ahead of stroke, get ahead of
it when it happens, go to the hospital right away
and do it and tell us again what some of
the signs are of the stroke.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
So again, I mean, just to make things very simple
and there's a lot of symptoms, but we use this
acronym and that's what we try to really, you know,
raise awareness to the population. This acronym called B fast,
which is B four balance. So again if you're having
problems with balance, E four I if you have trouble
of your vision or you cannot see, or if you
have any kind of visual problem. And then F for
(17:51):
face if your face is drooping. Now the very important science.
A for arms, so you can actually just ask someone
to just raise your arms. And sometimes you have a
stroke when arm will drop or if you have weakness
in your arm. And just the same thing for the lag.
As for speech, if you have problem to speak, if
you have a problems to understand, if your speech is lured,
(18:12):
very important sign of stroke. And T again for time. Again,
strokes are time sensitive issue. So the sooner you get
to the house and the sooner you get treated, the
greater chances of recovering from it. So T remember do
not waste time. If you have any symptom that could
you think could be a stroke, just caught in one
one and get it checked.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, because it's is it so like not all the
stroke symptoms are the same one person is this and
this and even recovering they have different ones too, is it?
No two strokes are alike? Is that kind of the
way the normal thing?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So a lot of the strokes, they can be a
like I mean, remember, like when the stroke happens, you know,
it's because the blood flow is impeded to part of
your brain, right, So the vassal is blocked into part
of your brain. So what that means that that part
of the brain is going to be the ones that's
going to be suffering that stroke, right, the rest of
your brain will be working normal, right, right, So that's
(19:12):
why it's so it's so sometimes very different from patients
to patient because it really depends which vassel get blocked
and our brain function, you know, it's all you know,
it's all split throughout the brain. So if a stroke
in one area can cause proms move part of your body,
it's stroke in another area can cause only problems to speak.
Another type of stroke can cause can be actually can
(19:35):
make it to be completely comatose. And so there's a
lot of different So they're all like symptoms of strokes.
So again that's the important part. If you recognize any
kind of symptom. They could be stroke weakness, sensory changes,
promos to speak, problems with your vision, prohams of balance,
bass drooping. Just again, don't waste time. Contact nine one
(19:57):
one Emergency Services come to they will Actually EMS is
very good and most of the country as an asset
work very closely with them to really pass actually legislation
that will have EMS take the patients will possible important
stroke to comprehensive stroke centers or level one stroke centers
where they can actually have any kind of stroke treatment.
(20:20):
So that's very very important.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Yeah, it is very important. Speaking of that. At the
EMS nine one one they have a strokebuster medication and
they have it the hospital too. They talk about that
in the medication when it can work and when it
can't work and all of that.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah, So the stroke medication, I mean most of the
places the EMS is not going to give you in
the ambulance. They will take you to the hostel, the
closest oft where you can get that. And the cloud
buster medication is basically it is a medication is given
an IV right, so through an IV and the idea
that is going to try to break the clock. The
problems that we have some of the thoughts are very
(20:57):
large and they are very resistant to that medication. So
a lot of those cases specifically, which are the worst
step of strokes, that's when you need to do the surgery,
so the thrown backtomy where basically go again to the
caster based procedure or you go there and remove the
clots to establish the blood sools your brain.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
So they do that at the hospital and that's the
best part they do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't
even know if I got one. I don't even know.
I was so out of it.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
So some patients may not be a candidate for the
IV medication right, because it really depends on the time.
So that's another reason why you need to come to
the hospital. That's fast possible because if you're a candidate
for it independent, if you're still going to need the
caster surgery, you will receive the IV trombolytic, which is
the cloudbuster medication. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah, I had the surgery, the full full surgery, everything done,
all done to me. You know this is it costs
a lot of money. You think about how much it
costs the world wide, Like what is it fifty six
billion dollars just costing now for strokes. They're really costing money.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Right, It costs a lot of money if you think
about it, and you have a lot of stroke patients, Well,
several strow patients are older, but several spatients are still
young and in really working age. So if you have
a stroke and you do not recover for it, you
have all the direct costs of taking care of the patient, right,
so you know all that we have skilled nursing facility,
(22:26):
you know. But even more important than that, it is
really all the costs of this person not getting back
the full functional life, right, So I'm not working, not
being able to contribute to society. So all the costs
putting together direct in indirect costs, it's a huge amount
of numbers, like as you mentioned, like in the order
of like sixty seventy billion dollars.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yeah, it is amazing. I was fifty eight when I
had my stroke, and and I still had I'm working now,
and I look like, look what I would have done
if it couldn't have worked anymore, I'd have been missed
up bad. So yeah, it's it would cost me a
lot of money.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
I don't and it's and I think you know, there
is one of the things that we always say. Right,
the stroke is the fifth leading cause, leading motality cause
of death in the United States, but it's actually the
leading cause of divisibility and for a lot of things.
To the stroke, visibility is way more important, right because
several paints may not die from the stroke. But you know,
if you have someone you give your example, you're like
(23:24):
on your you know, late fifties. Some patients sometimes are
younger than that. Yeah, and then you cannot go back
to work and it's too need like you know, full
time assisted care. I mean, just think about like just
a big burden not only is your family, but also
to society.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
I know it affected my speech and so I couldn't
do this. I couldn't be doing the show with you
now if it's my speech from este.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yeah, so I'm glad you were able to recover.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Yeah, I may, thank you, thank you. Uh, it's still
I still get tired, that's what. That's the only thing
I have. But if I have that, I'm fine, you
know what I mean. And uh, And it's all because
I got to the hospital right away, right away. And
that's what I tell people all the time. If you
think you're having a stroke, even if you're not having
a stroke, go go because I've been in that situation too,
(24:12):
and you should go. Just go. Yeah, it's better to
find out that you're not having one, right.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
That's correct. Yea, it's bad find out you're not having
one than missing the opportunity of treating one that's happening. Right.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, Where can you go and find out about this
and other things regarding a stroke?
Speaker 2 (24:28):
There's plenty of resources. You know A S and I
as whig is the site of their international surgery. They
have on their website. You can go into it. There's
other resources like the American Art Association. So you know,
nowadays in the air of Internet, it's very easy to
find information, right, But I will also acknowledge that you
always need to look in sources. They're reliable, so you
(24:49):
don't get like miss information.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
As well, right, Doctor Dabos, I thank you so much,
and I thank you for what you do and helping
people with strokes. I thank you so much. And there's
there's so much money do go.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Very welcome. My pleasure to be part of it.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Thank you very much, and I appreciate you helping those
people who have strokes, and you're gonna help them today
because we're gonna put this out. Thank you very much,
Thank you very much. That's doctor g Army Dabos talking
about stroke. Remember if you suffer any of those symptoms,
called nine to one one immediately and get to the hospital.
To find out more about stroke, visit get Ahead of
(25:24):
Stroke dot org. For questions or comments on today's program,
you can email me John Clark at Georgiannewsnetwork dot com.
Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you next week right
here on your local radio station on Georgia Focus.
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