Brain Attack or Stroke – A Ticking Time Bomb 

Every year on 29th October World Stroke Day is celebrated to create awareness about Brain stroke. On this day, organizations around the world facilitate events emphasizing education, testing, and initiatives to improve the damaging effects of stroke.
This annual event was started in 2006 by the World Stroke Organization (WSO) and the WSO declared stroke a public health emergency in 2010.

We know about Heart Attacks, but how much do we really know about Brain Attacks or Strokes? Strokes are becoming an important cause of premature death and disability in many countries like India. Majority of stroke survivors continue to live with disabilities, and the costs of on-going rehabilitation and long term-care are largely undertaken by family members, which then impoverish their families.
Sadly, there is a great lack of awareness about Strokes!

On the eve of World Stroke Day, 28th October 2020, V Citizens Action Network (VCAN) organized another fully digital Social Sanchar, to facilitate citizens interaction with Dr Anil Karapurkar, to learn about Brain Attacks and Strokes and prepare ourselves to act correctly in such emergency situations.

The session was broadcast live on Facebook and YouTube, and was joined by viewers across the city, and around the globe.

Smt. Indrani Malkani, Chairman & Managing Trustee of VCAN, started the Social Sanchar with a welcome address. She gave a brief introduction about VCAN, mentioning its overarching objective, which is to establish effective linkages between Government and Citizens and that VCAN works in partnership with several Government Authorities, the focus areas of VCAN’s work, the interactive Web Portal and the live interactive talk show titled TogetherVCAN’s Social Sanchars. She shared that during these uncertain times of COVID 19, many anxious questions about our health, have been raised.
With this in mind VCAN decided to expand their Social Sanchars with a new series called ‘Health and Wellbeing’ featuring leading Doctors and Healthcare Professionals as our Speakers.
Of course, VCAN’s regular Social Sanchar programmes, will also continue in due time.

Smt. Malkani then conveyed her grateful thanks to VCAN’s Support Partner, for this Social Sanchar, Breach Candy Hospital Trust.

She expressed her appreciative thanks towards Team Teknowlegion for powering the fully digital Social Sanchars and for always being vigilant and keeping VCAN’s Web Portal going.
She thanked VCAN’s social media consultant Mr. Sumit Lulla, and specially thanked the Student Council and the Students of VCAN’s College Partner Jai Hind College and all the other *Colleges who have associated with VCAN, as well as all the viewers, colleagues and networking partners and friends in the media.

To see the list of *colleges,  click here

Thereafter, Smt. Malkani invited her fellow trustee Shri. V. Ranganathan, to introduce Dr Anil Karapurkar.

Brief Profile of Dr. Anil P. Karapurkar

Dr. Anil P. Karapurkar
Interventional Neurosurgeon,
Senior Consultant, Breach Candy Hospital

He is an MBBS from Poona, MS General Surgery and MS Neurosurgery, both from Bombay
His Special Training: Neuro Vascular Intervention in France in 1980, 1987 and 1991

Positions Held:
Tutor, Asst Prof, Associate Prof, Prof Neurosurgery, KEM Hospital, Seth GS Medical College, Mumbai, and took retirement in 1996.
Worked at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital New Delhi from 1996 to 2002.
Moved back to Mumbai in 2002 and joined Bombay Hospital which he left in 2006 and then joined HN Hospital in 2007.

He joined Breach Candy Hospital in 2008 and continues to work there as Senior Consultant in Endovascular Neurosurgery.

At present he is a teacher in the new branch of Medicine “Neuro Vascular Intervention” at Breach Candy Hospital.
He has trained several doctors; Neurosurgeons, Neurophysicians, Radiologists, in this new speciality of Neuro Vascular Interventions.

He is the President of Indian “Society of Neuro Vascular Interventions (SNVI)” and has been the Past President of Asian Federation of Neuro Vascular Interventions (AAFITN) and has also been on the Governing Board of World Federation Neuro Vascular Interventions (WFITN).

Smt. Malkani informed the viewers that several questions; both general as well as individual patient related, had already been received and that the questions had been on passed to Dr. Karapurkar for him to take it up whilst making his presentation.
She then requested Dr. Karapurkar to give his opening remarks keeping the current situation in mind and the complications connected with Brain attacks or Strokes, and to specially enlighten all on;

• What causes a brain attack or stroke?
• What are the types of strokes?
• Can a person recover from a stroke?
• What are the warning signs of a stroke?
• Is COVID a factor for strokes?
• What to do if you suspect a stroke?

Dr Anil Karapurkar started by explaining the true meaning of stroke and what are the causes of stroke.

The opening remarks by Dr. Anil Karapurkar and his presentation were detailed and answers to many questions were addressed, please see the Video to get a comprehensive understanding.

Dr. Karapurkar’s presentation and Q&A starts at 9:07 minutes click here

Some highlights are shared below:

Stroke is the 2nd most common cause of death in India.

Stroke is the sudden loss of function of part of the body. There are two different types of stroke, Ischemic stroke (85% of all strokes) and Hemorrhagic stroke (15% of all strokes).

Dr Karapurkar talked about the difference between heart attack and brain stroke. The heart has one function – to pump blood, whilst the brain has numerous functions – depending on the area; hand, leg, vision, speech etc. In case of heart attack some treatment can start at home such as giving Sorbitrate oral by placing under the tongue but for stroke, treatment cannot start at home, one has to go to the hospital and get CT/MRI done before any treatment can be done.

Dr Karapurkar also spoke about Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) which is a type of Ischemic stroke. While he was explaining what TIA is, he mentioned few important things about TIA which are:

1. Transient ischemic attack, paralysis recovers in 24 hours.
2. Transient ischemic attack, is a progressive stroke which means that it could start with hand and gradually spread to leg, face and speech.
3. Transient ischemic attack has a retrospective diagnosis.

On what the family should do in the case of a stroke, Dr Karapurkar mentioned few important points which are:

1. Inform the nearest hospital which has CT and MRI scan facility
2. Act as quickly as possible
3. Insist on CT and CTA or MRA scan
4. Do not waste time calling the family doctor
5. Do not go to a standalone CT/MRI center

Dr Karapurkar also shared the latest treatment techniques

There were multiple questions answered by Dr. Karapurkar during his presentation, on whether the lifestyle of an individual can cause stroke and how we can prevent the same. He answered by stating that our lifestyle plays a vital role in our physical and mental wellbeing. He also said that major causes of stroke in today’s lifestyle, is Obesity, Diabetes, Cardiac disease and prior TIA or stroke. He also added that to prevent a stroke we can make ourselves physically fit by doing regular exercises and by eating healthy and nutritious food.

Lastly, he talked about ‘BE FAST’, which stands for:
B: Balance – Loss of balance or coordination
E: Eyes blurred – Trouble seeing in one or both eyes with blackened or blurred or double vision
F: Face Drooping – One side of the face is drooping or getting numb
A: Arm Weakness – Weakness in the arm, leg or face especially on one side of the body
S: Speech Difficulty – Speech slurring, difficulty in speaking or understanding
T: Time to Call – Even seconds count, call for an ambulance immediately

In view of the current pandemic, Smt. Malkani requested Dr. Karapurkar to share his observations about the correlation of Brain stroke and COVID.
Dr. Karapurkar’s detailed explanation on this issue starts 1:00:19 minutes click here

Click here  to view the PDF version of the Presentation of Dr. Karapurkar

Click here  to see the video contained in the presentation showing the Aspiration Technique

At the end of the exhaustive session, Smt. Malkani and Shri. Ranganathan thanked Dr. Anil Karapurkar for his clear and informative presentation and responses.
Smt. Malkani informed the viewers that questions that would have been received during the session and could not be taken up despite the extension of the session, will be sent to Dr. Karapurkar and the answers will be later published with a link in the Report on VCAN’s Web Portal.

With this, Smt. Malkani closed the session, confirming that there was a necessity to create community awareness on Brain Attacks or Stroke and that VCAN will take it forward.
An online memento of appreciation on behalf of VCAN was presented by Smt. Malkani to Dr. Karapurkar.
Smt. Malkani then thanked VCAN’s Trustees and the viewers for joining the session and ended the digital Social Sanchar.

To view the video of the session, click here

To view the PPT** of Dr. Anil Karapurkar, click here

**Please be advised, the information in the presentation was prepared by Dr. Anil Karapurkar, Interventional Neurosurgeon, Senior Consultant, Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai India, and was presented at the TogetherVCAN’s Social Sanchar held on 28th October 2020.
All Rights are reserved with the Author and due acknowledgement is to be given to the Author should this presentation in part or in full be used by anyone anywhere. The contents of the slideshow presentation are by the Author and not by VCAN.
The presentation file is lengthy, therefore please wait for it to be fully downloaded before clicking on individual slides. It is advisable to use Google Chrome to download the presentation.