- My name is Dr. Khawaja.
I'm a stroke neurologist at Cleveland Clinic,
and I specialize in treating strokes
and cerebrovascular disease at Cleveland Clinic.
So a stroke is a medical emergency,
and it happens when blood flow to the brain stops.
And when that happens,
it can cause all different types of symptoms.
It can affect someone's speech, language, vision,
balance, strength, sensation.
There are two main types of strokes:
one is ischemic and the other is hemorrhagic.
And ischemic stroke is far more common
and occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted
by a clot or occlusion.
And when that happens,
the effected part of the brain
that doesn't receive blood flow basically stops working.
The other type of stroke is hemorrhagic,
and that occurs when an artery
in the brain basically bursts.
And that causes bleeding in and around the brain.
And the brain does not like any kind of blood
that's not in the arteries.
It can cause irritation.
There are modifiable risk factors,
and then there's non-modifiable risk factors.
So things that we can't necessarily change:
our age, our genetics, and then our gender.
We know that at certain ages
men have a higher risk of stroke.
And then women can have a higher risk of stroke.
Then there are the modifiable risk factors:
things such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol,
diabetes, obesity, atrial fibrillation,
smoking, alcohol use.
Some of the most common cause of stroke
include things such as high blood pressure,
which is often referred to as the silent killer.
People don't know they have high blood pressure.
And really the only way to know is if it's checked,
either at home by yourself
or when you go to your doctor's office.
Atrial fibrillation is also something
that sometimes we discover only when patients have a stroke,
and that's an irregular heart rhythm.
Some people will feel palpitations
or kind of a racing of the heart.
A major risk factor is also smoking.
And so stopping smoking can significantly
reduce the risk of stroke.
When a stroke happens, it is of the upmost importance
to get evaluated in an emergency room
to receive lifesaving and disability-sparing treatments.
It is better to call 911
than to try to drive it to the ER yourself,
if time permits, and get evaluated
because there are certain medications
and certain procedures that we can do.
But those medications and procedures are all time-based,
and they work better if we're able to get to people sooner.
One of those major treatments is Alteplase,
and the other treatment is endovascular therapy.
With Alteplase or Tenecteplase,
these are medicines that we're able to give through the IV
that break up clots.
I like to think of it as Drano for the body.
We're able to inject it,
and it finds the clots and it breaks them up.
And it's been shown to improve outcomes.
Endovascular therapy, it's like kind of snaking a drain,
where you take a catheter and you move it all the way up
into the brain and you pull a clot out.
And that treatment has been shown
to be extremely effective in reducing disability
related to stroke.
Stroke is very preventable.
And one of the easiest ways to prevent a stroke
is to know what your risk factors are
and live a healthy lifestyle.
We're noting that more and more young people
are having strokes every year.
And it's something that is no longer a disease
of the elderly, that we're seeing patients
in their 20s, 30s, 40s.
Even children, unfortunately, can have strokes.
And so it's very important to ensure
that you have regular follow-up,
annual visits with your physician,
just to make sure that everything is on track.
And then if you do have risk factors,
to make sure that you are actively managing it.
So it's important for you to be active in your own care.
You yourself are also managing your blood pressure,
and you yourself are taking steps to ensure
that everything is well controlled.
And not only that,
the pills alone really don't help
unless you're also living a healthy lifestyle.
So eating right, exercising regularly,
and also kind of tracking your weight
to make sure that your weight is within the target.
(bright music)