Stroke Carer

An illustrated neuron graphic

“Neuron” by NIH-NCATS is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Our brain contains about 100 billion neurons; it looks like a neuron forest. because a neuron is more or less similar to a tree. Neurons are a special kind of cell. At one end, it sprouts a large number of very thin short threads – “dendrites”. The ends of these receive electrical signals from other neurons via small fluid-filled ponds – “synapses”. The received signals pass along until it reaches the tree (cell) body. From there, it shoots away to the next neuron through another thicker branch; it is named “Axon”. So, dendrites take electrical…

Marguerite Blais

It is good news; until 2018, we knew that neurosurgeons can salvage living neurons only if they remove the clot within six hours of the block. Now, we know it is not so. They can go ahead with the operation if a patient is ready for the surgery even after six hours. About the study This finding was published in the The New England of Journal of Medicine in 2018. An eminent group of US researchers conducted this study recruiting stroke patients from 32 stroke centres; so, it was a multi-centre study. They compared recovery levels of two groups of…

American Heart and Stroke Associations promote use of tPA although not all emergency physicians do not adhere to the practice.

Find all about useful and practical evidence-based info about canes.

Imagine the following trail of events: You start to observe or more F.A.S.T. stroke symptoms and signs in a person; you call an ambulance; emergency responders arrive at the scene; they determine of a stroke; they rush the person to a stroke unit; the person is treated with a blot clot-dissolving medication.  If all these events occur within the first hour from the time of detection, that is the golden hour. What is the “golden hour”? The “golden hour” of a stroke refers to the first hour after the onset of stroke symptoms. This term highlights the importance of recognizing the…

A stroke can occur either due to a block in an artery or bleeding from an artery. Find out more about it.

brain’s blood flow

“Homunculus” refers to a small human or a “humanoid” creature. Do we have it on our brain surface? Yes, we can find a homunculus (figuratively) as a map in our brain. Not just one, in fact, we have “two little humanoids”!. This is the story behind this amazing discovery. In 1937, two brilliant scientists, Dr Wilder Penfield and Edwin Boldrey embarked on a journey to unravel the mysteries of the human brain. They were operating at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada with a mission to map the brain regions that receive sensory information from the skin and those that send…