Strokes can severely impact a patient’s function and can even be fatal.
Risk factors include smoking, high-cholesterol diets and sedentary lifestyles.
A neurologist can screen you for your risk of stroke and put you on the path to prevention.
Strokes can be devastating. A patient’s ability to speak, walk and perform daily activities can be severely impacted. Strokes can even be fatal.
If you’re worried about your risk of stroke, consider making an appointment with a neurologist. They can screen you for risk factors and help you take steps to prevent a stroke.
Neurologist Jesus Martinez, MD sees patients at Regional One Health’s East Campus. He said a stroke risk screening has several components.
“It starts with a good medical history,” according to Dr. Martinez. “Family history is important, but lifestyle is the most important factor.”
He asks patients a series of questions:
- Do you smoke or use tobacco?
- Do you eat a diet high in cholesterol?
- Are you sedentary?
- Are you overweight?
Age, gender and race also play a role. Risk goes up after age 40 and doubles every decade after age 55. Men have a higher risk of stroke, and the condition is more prevalent among African-Americans and Hispanic Americans than other groups.
Other chronic conditions are linked to stroke as well:
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- Lupus
- Renal disease
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- High cholesterol
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is one factor doctors will look at when determining a patient’s stroke risk.
Dr. Martinez screens patients for all of these conditions when assessing stroke risk.
Also, women under age 35 who have had multiple miscarriages require extra scrutiny.
“If you don’t have diabetes or hypertension, you start thinking, ‘Why is this happening?’” Dr. Martinez said. “We look at their history and test for autoimmune conditions or the tendency to form clots.”
If a patient is deemed high risk based on an initial examination, Dr. Martinez may order more tests.
Common tests to screen for stroke include:
- Echocardiogram
- Electrocardiogram
- Brain MRI or CT
- Carotid ultrasound
Dr. Martinez said the frontline treatment for high-risk patients is a healthier lifestyle. “The doctor will first recommend changes like exercise and a better diet,” he said.
Doctors might also prescribe medications to lower cholesterol or blood pressure or to treat other chronic conditions. Surgery is an option if tests show the patient has a carotid blockage.
“If it’s between 70 and 99 percent closed, we can do surgery. Once it’s 100 percent closed, you don’t want to touch it,” Dr. Martinez said.
Doctors can recommend treatment plans – starting with lifestyle changes – that can help patients avoid the trauma of a stroke.
After 100 percent blockage, data shows the chance of preventing stroke is less than the risk of complications.
One theory is the brain has adjusted to the blockage and removing it might cause new problems.
At less than 70 percent blockage, the risks associated with surgery do not outweigh the benefits.
Dr. Martinez said doctors would continue monitoring and testing the patient.