R. Karuppusamy (37), a daily wage worker from Alandurai, was riding a two-wheeler to workplace on October 27 morning when he developed difficulty in seeing. Owing to blurred vision and sudden numbness in the left leg and hand, he halted his two-wheeler by the side of the road. People nearby rushed him to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) where he was diagnosed with thrombotic stroke, owing to a clot in an artery that supplied blood to the brain.
Doctors at the Department of Neurology administered a thrombolytic drug that dissolved the clot in the blood vessel.
“In the case of Karuppusamy, he was brought to the hospital within an hour after he had the stroke, so that doctors could diagnose the problem early and give the right treatment. People who suffer stroke should be taken to an advanced stroke management facility within four-and-a-half hours. While the drug alone costs around ₹ 40,000 in private facilities, the cost can be covered under the Chief Minister's Comprehensive Insurance Scheme at CMCH,” said its B. Asokan.
However, the drug will not be effective in treating haemorrhagic stroke that causes a blood leak from the artery.
The Department of Neurology at CMCH, comprising doctors N. Shobana, C.J. Selvakumar, R. Venkatesh, V. Satheesh Kumar and Moses P. Moorthy, has so far performed 17 successful thrombolysis on stroke patients in the last eight months. The Department is equipped with a biplane catheterisation laboratory and CT scan, which can be used to perform coiling and clipping for aneurysm and other complex procedures.
Dr. Asokan said the CMCH was receiving early intimation on the arrival of stroke patients in 108 ambulances under the Tamil Nadu Accident and Emergency Care Initiative (TAEI). Under TAEI, CMCH is the hub hospital for 13 spoke hospitals in Coimbatore, the Nilgiris, Erode and Tiruppur.
The hospital has come out with pamphlets containing symptoms of stroke and treatment facilities at CMCH, which are distributed among patients and visitors.
Symptoms of stroke include sudden numbness of the face, arm, leg (especially on one side of the body), sudden confusion, difficulty in speaking, sudden blurred vision, sudden difficulty in walking, dizziness and loss of balance.
