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News from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
“Talk with Your Doctor” to Avoid a Stroke, UAMS Experts Say
JUNE 19, 2003 | Experts at the University
of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)
called on Arkansans yesterday to talk with
their doctors about the risk of strokes.
Strokes are “brain attacks” in which a
clot blocks a vessel or artery or a blood
vessel breaks, interrupting blood flow to
an area of the brain and causing brain
cells to die.
James W. Schmidley, M.D., a professor and
vice chair of the Department of Neurology
in the UAMS College of Medicine, said a
strong family history of strokes,
hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol,
and smoking are risk factors for strokes.
Dr. Schmidley emphasized that patients and
their doctors should talk about whether
they are in high-risk categories and take
steps to improve their health.
Ted Lancaster, M.D., of Walnut Ridge,
Arkansas, joined Dr. Schmidley in calling
for Arkansans to talk with their doctors.
”Eighty percent of strokes are
preventable,” Dr. Lancaster said. Too many
Arkansans wait until they are sick to see
a doctor, he said. “Please become involved
in preventive health care!” Dr.
Drs. Schmidley and Lancaster spoke on
behalf of the National Stroke Association,
which is promoting better prevention of
strokes in the “Stroke Belt” states that
include Arkansas. Lancaster is the state
chairman for the “Ask the Doctor” campaign
of the National Stroke Association.
Sandra Murray of UAMS knows firsthand the
importance of stroke prevention. Ms.
Murray, a registration clerk in the UAMS
Outpatient Center, suffered a TIA, or
transient ischemic attack, when she was
just 16, and another in her early 20s. At
the time, no one explained to her that the
temporary numbness, loss of vision,
trouble walking, and other symptoms were
the result of a temporary interruption of
blood flow to the brain – and a warning
sign of future strokes. In fact, one-third
of all persons who experience TIAs will go
on to have actual strokes, according to
the National Stroke Association.
Murray had a major stroke at the young age
of 34. Today, Ms. Murray tells others,
“Young people can have strokes. It
happened to me.” She explains to families
and friends of stroke victims that the
sudden traumatic brain injury can leave
the victim depressed or angry. “One day
you were normal and the next day you
weren’t. I was extremely angry.”
Jim Christopher of Hot Springs Village,
Ark., is another stroke survivor with
advice for Arkansans: If you have a
stroke, don’t give up.
”I was thin; I was walking the hills two,
three, or four miles a day – and yet this
happened to me. My eye began to hurt and I
fell to my knees. That was the beginning,”
he said.
Like Ms. Murray, Mr. Christopher has some
lingering problems with the use of the leg
and arm on one side of his body. But he
has worked faithfully in physical therapy.
“I had to learn to walk again. It isn’t
easy. But I tell people, ‘Don’t stop your
physicial fitness program.’”
Gerald A. Dienel,
Ph.D., of the Department of Neurology in
the UAMS College of Medicine, has studied
the effects of stroke and other
neurological conditions on the brain since
1978. His early research findings showed
that disruption of calcium homeostasis
coincides with the progression of ischemic
brain damage and stimulated many studies
of the roles of calcium in brain cell
death. Dr. Dienel has research funding
from the National Institutes of Health (NINDS),
and his current research at UAMS focuses
on nutritional and bioenergetic aspects of
brain work, neuron-astrocyte interactions
in health and disease, and brain imaging.
Brain “imaging” refers to images obtained
by CT or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)
that have anatomical correspondence, by
PET (positron emission tomography) that
have metabolic or some other
correspondence, or by other means. Thus, a
brain image can be an actual anatomical
picture of the tissue or a representation
of cellular activity based on accumulation
of a tracer molecules in areas of the
tissue. For example, glucose is the main
fuel for brain, and glucose tracers are
often used in PET studies of humans to
evaluate brain activity during cognition,
drug treatment, brain disorders, and brain
tumors.
"With more research, we hope to one day be
able to image in real time the
contributions of different cell types to
brain activity so we can understand how
the cells act together to carry out normal
functions and detect when things go wrong
so therapeutic treatments can be initiated
at the onset of disease instead of after
irreversible damage has occurred," Dr.
Dienel explains. |
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James W. Schmidley, M.D. (Kevin
Christensen)
Gerald A. Dienel, Ph.D. (Kevin Christensen)
Sandra Murray (Kevin Christensen)
Jim Christopher of Hot Springs
Village, Arkansas, and Kay Wan of the National
Stroke Association (Tim Taylor)
.
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Links on This Page
UAMS
Wins $5 Million: http://www.uams.edu/today/2003/041003/Reis.htm
Better Medicines: http://www.uams.edu/today/2003/022703/BetterMedicine.htm
Findings on Blood Pressure: http://www.uams.edu/today/2002/121802/bloodpressure.htm
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06/20/03 |
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