Las Palmas, June 2022. Hospiten Roca has launched a check-up campaign to prevent strokes. These are simple non-invasive, painless tests that are carried out in the neurology clinic and can help prevent the disease. This examination will allow doctors to detect a patient’s risk of suffering a stroke and recommend changes in lifestyle habits or medication to ensure it does not occur.
Dr. Javier Ledesma, neurologist at Hospiten Roca and at the Vecindario Medical Specialties Center, explains that the campaign has been launched with the aim of reducing the high death rate in the Canary Islands due to strokes. In the first seven months of 2021, 1,273 cases of stroke were registered in the archipelago, of which 90% could have been prevented.
The risk of having a STROKE is higher in elderly people, in fact, the risk of suffering a stroke doubles every 10 years after the age of 55, and it is more common in people who suffer from carotid obstruction due to cholesterol or heart disease, both of which are related to at least 40% of strokes.
"Early detection and treatment of these pathologies and other risk factors can prevent a stroke and its consequences," says Dr. Ledesma. The check-up begins by measuring different parameters like weight, body diameters, blood pressure, followed by the completion of the patient's clinical history by a neurologist, assessment and performance of a series of medical tests like an electrocardiogram, Doppler ultrasound of the supra-aortic trunks, transcranial Doppler ultrasound, in addition to a blood test to assess alterations in lipids and blood sugar levels, among others. In some cases, depending on the results, specific treatments may be recommended, for example, if cholesterol is found in the arteries that go to the brain, or evaluation by other specialists, for example, a cardiologist if cardiac arrhythmia is detected.
A stroke is described as the sudden onset of neurological symptoms like weakness or numbness in the face or limbs, clumsiness when speaking, not being able to say or understand words and a series of other symptoms that may be less obvious. Hospiten points out that, in the event of someone experiencing any of these symptoms, they must go to the emergency room immediately, since 85% of strokes are caused by the closure of a cerebral artery, either because the artery wall is damaged or blocked by embolic material traveling from the heart or another artery.
Smoking is the main modifiable risk factor involved in strokes. Of the diseases that often lead to a stroke, the most common are arterial hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia, as well as obesity. It should also be pointed out that cardiac pathologies like arrhythmia can lead to a stroke if they are not properly treated.
The Hospiten Group is an international healthcare network with 50 years of experience, committed to providing the highest quality service, and which has 20 private medical-hospital centers in Spain, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Jamaica and Panama and more than 100 outpatient centers under the brand Clinic Assist. The group is chaired by Dr. Pedro Luis Cobiella