The specialist:
As the director of the Mount Sinai Stroke Center, Dr. Stanley Tuhrim is a vascular neurologist who specializes in stroke and related conditions.
Founded in 1988, the stroke center provides care to about 500 patients a year.
Who’s at risk:
Every year, about 700,000 Americans suffer a stroke, which works out to one stroke every 40 seconds.
“A stroke is a disturbance in the blood flow to the brain, most often due to a clot or blockage in a blood vessel,” says Tuhrim. “The cells in the brain start to die if not enough oxygen gets to them — damage we can largely prevent if the stroke patient receives the correct drugs quickly enough.”
Anyone experiencing a stroke should call 911 and go directly to the hospital.
Although strokes can affect anyone, 75% occur in patients over age 65. “Age is an important risk factor for stroke because fatty plaque deposits accumulate in the arteries over time,” says Tuhrim. “This hardening of the arteries, called atherosclerosis, makes the arteries narrower and thus more susceptible to blockages.”
For men, the risk of stroke increases around age 50. For most women, stroke risk goes up around age 60, after menopause.
Many other risk factors for stroke are considered modifiable, which means that making lifestyle modifications can reduce your risk.
“High blood pressure, or hypertension, is the most important risk factor in this country — it increases your risk three or four times,” says Tuhrim. “High cholesterol, cigarette smoking, diabetes and some heart arrhythmias are other common risk factors.”
Signs and symptoms:
For the current generation of anti-stroke drugs to work, patients have roughly a three-hour window to receive treatment and must get to the hospital as quickly as possible when stroke symptoms occur.
“Recognizing the signs of stroke is key because getting to the hospital quickly is crucial in terms of being able to treat it,” says Tuhrim.
“The classic symptoms are numbness or weakness of the face, arm and leg, especially on just one side of the body, difficulty in speaking or understanding what’s being said, trouble seeing or walking, or a sudden severe headache with no known cause.”
If you experience these symptoms or spot them in someone else, it’s essential to call 911 right away. “At the hospital, we say ‘time is brain,’ ” says Tuhrim. “The faster you get to a hospital, the fewer brain cells will have died.” Ambulance crews know to take stroke victims to the nearest stroke center.
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