Wednesday, January 15, 1997
HEALTH:
Study aims to increase awareness in identifying symptomsBy
Kathryn Combs
Daily Bruin Contributor
What is the No. 1 cause of disability in adults, the No. 2
reason for placement in a nursing home and the No. 3 cause of death
in the United States?
Ten years ago the average response to this question would have
been heart attack. The answer now however, is stroke.
According to Dr. Sidney Starkman, director of the UCLA Stroke
Center, "Time is brain." He stresses that stroke is becoming a more
common medical problem and should be increasingly recognized as a
medical emergency.
The UCLA Emergency Department Stroke Study is a comprehensive
program aimed at examining the effects of different medications on
patients suffering from stroke.
Recent discoveries have shown that there exists a short window
of opportunity in which particular therapies can reduce the effects
and severity of stroke.
One of these such medications is TPA. Approved by the FDA
approximately 5 months ago, this drug breaks up blood clots in the
arteries which may be causing the stroke.
"Because of the therapies that we can now offer and because of
the new understanding of the biology of stroke, there is a
therapeutic window of opportunity," said Starkman.
"However, that window is short; it’s only within minutes to
hours that we can do things that will save brain for most stroke
patients. It is dependent on time and the type of stroke."
Starkman says the problem seems to be getting these patients
into the emergency room in time to administer therapy. Most of the
medications available will only work within a certain time
frame.
According to Starkman, many patients come in days, even weeks
after suffering stroke symptoms because they are unaware that they
are having a stroke and of the consequences of what they are
experiencing.
This is where the UCLA Brain Attack Team comes in.
The UCLA Brain Attack team consist of a number of brain
specialists, including doctors who work with medical students
trained to recognize stroke symptoms.
These students are present in the emergency room 18 hours a day,
seven days a week, and are trained to recognize the symptoms of
stroke. Once a student has determined that a patient may be
suffering from stroke, they immediately alert neurological
specialists from the Brain Attack Team.
One unique aspect of this program is the intense involvement of
UCLA undergraduate medical students. Under the guidance of Starkman
and other involved physicians, approximately 20 medical students
are currently working with the Brain Attack Team through the
Student Research Program (SRP). Each of these students is trained
to recognize the symptoms of stroke in the emergency room.
In general, a stroke occurs when the blood supply to the brain
is cut off, robbing the brain’s cells of vital oxygen and causing
it to stop functioning. This can be caused when an artery becomes
blocked by a clot or fatty buildup, or when an artery ruptures.
Symptoms of stroke include a sudden inability to speak, walk, sense
or see.
"Our job is to be in the emergency room 18 hours a day, seven
days a week to look for stroke patients,"said Pejman Katiraei, a
third-year biology student who is also a coordinator of student
outreach efforts.
"If we find a patient who has had a stroke, we can then call the
stroke team. They come in and diagnose the patient and see if they
are eligible for the studies that we are doing," he added.
Audrey Kim, an third-year psychobiology student recently
identified a stroke patient in the emergency room.
According to Kim, the patient came into the emergency room in
the middle of last week and exhibited classic signs of stroke:
inability to communicate clearly, weakness on the right side of his
body and difficulty seeing.
The patient came into the emergency room approximately one hour
after experiencing stroke-like symptoms, so Kim was able to
interview him and determine that he may be suffering from a stroke.
She then alerted the proper authorities, resulting in full and
immediate medical care.
In addition to their work in the emergency room, these students
aim to reach out to the community to inform more people of the
onset and consequences of stroke. To accomplish this goal they have
been visiting senior citizen centers and clubs, giving
presentations regarding stroke.
"Our goal is to teach people how to assess brain attack. It’s
very simple to recognize (a stroke) if you know what you are
looking for," Katiraei said.
"The inability to walk, talk, sense or see, these are the major
ways that stroke materializes in most patients," he added.
The outreach group targets these centers because 75 percent of
persons suffering from stroke are over the age of 65.
Although the outreach portion of the program has only been in
effect since July, student expectations are high.
"In the future we would like to get students to help us in other
parts of California and eventually the U.S.," said Katiraei.
"Stroke has always been an emergency, but now there’s a therapy
available to help," he added.
For further information call Dr. Sidney Starkman at (310)
794-0594.
INGA DOROSZ
Pejman Kaitraei, a third-year biology student, lectured at the
Jewish Retirement Center about stroke prevention.