KSA Stroke patients: The Golden Hour is KEY

The Saudi Stroke Association together with Boehringer Ingelheim marked the World Stroke Day by launching 2017’s awareness campaign with a media event in Jeddah. The Stroke campaign is part of an initiative in the Kingdom to establish a comprehensive stroke management protocol nationwide.

Stroke is being observed as a rapidly growing problem and an important cause of illness and death in Saudi Arabia. With an approximate population of 31 million as of 2017, existing research indicates that at least 20,000 new stroke cases, 4,000 deaths and 8,000 disabilities occur each year across the country. 69% of these cases are ischemic stroke, where blood clots form in the brain and preventing oxygen reaching parts of the brain.

Taking place at the King Abdulaziz Hospital in Jeddah, the event included a demonstration of the ‘Door to Needle time’, the moment stroke patients walk through the hospital doors to when treatment is administered. When a stroke patient arrives at the hospital, the maximum time from door to administering of the treatment should not be more than 60 minutes.

Leading neurologist Dr. Mohamed AlMekhlafi, Assistant Professor, Stroke and Interventional Neurology, Department of Medicine at King Abdulaziz University and President of the Saudi Stroke Association walked participants through the steps that take place when patients arrive to the hospital, where they are then sent to the triage nurse, who examines them, and upon confirmation, provides the required treatment. Patients are then taken for a laboratory test, where the core team performs a CT scan, and finally, the injection is administered to dissolve the stoke. The entire process should not take more than 60 minutes to increase the  patient probability to be saved

Suffering a stroke is one of the most devastating medical emergencies that can happen to a person. 17 million people worldwide suffer a stroke every year. One third of these people die as a consequence and another third are left permanently disabled.[3] In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), stroke is increasingly a growing health problem, with projections that deaths from it will nearly double by 2030.[4] The Middle East region faces a double burden of the disease due to decreasing rates of communicable diseases and the growing rates of non-communicable diseases including stroke.

Dr. Mohammed AlMekhlafi stated, “Rapid treatment in specialized stroke units has been shown to reduce mortality, disability, complications and length of hospital stay. Neurologists are urging the implementation of correct protocols in hospitals Kingdom wide.  These protocols are extremely crucial in the safe management of stroke, which will lead to saving lives and minimizing disability. The aim of the live demonstration was to highlight what exactly happens from the moment a patient walks into a hospital and raise awareness on the need for immediate, pathway-driven actions to expedite treatment and reduce stroke-related disability. We hope that these efforts will raise the awareness around the importance of establishing dedicated stroke care units across the Kingdom.”

Symptoms of stroke can include sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arms or legs on one side of the body, as well as speech impairment, trouble with eye sight, loss of balance as well as severe headache. Experts stressed that F.A.S.T is an easy way to remember the sudden signs of stroke, which reflects Face Dropping, Arm Weakness, Speech Difficulty and Time to call for support.

Mr. Mohamed El Dababy, General Manager and Head of Human Pharma of Near East, Middle East, Africa (NEMEA) at Boehringer Ingelheim also said, “Stroke is one of the key causes of significant disability in the Kingdom and worldwide. Through the MENA Stroke Initiative, our primary objective is to provide a platform to bring together the leading neurologists in Saudi Arabia, in order to raise awareness on the need for proper and effective treatment of stroke as well as optimizing stroke managment. We are working very closely with the Saudi Stroke Association and hospitals around the Kingdom. There has been an 800% increase in the number of stroke centers that provide thrombolysis treatment through the efforts of the Saudi Stroke Association with the support of Boehringer Ingelheim (4 centers in 2015 to 35 in Q4 of 2017). We will continue to work with all stakeholder enhance stroke mangmentin the Kingdom, so lives are not lost as a result of not being able to reach the nearest center on the right time.’’

The MENA Stroke initiative, created by Boehringer Ingelheim, is a subdivision of the global program dedicated for the MENA region and managed by a group of renowned neurologists in the region. It has three major objectives – the focus being accelerating decreased door to needle times- which is the interval between patient’s arrival to the hospital and starting the treatment; support in establishing a dedicated stroke unit in hospitals which will directly lead to faster and better patient outcomes and as well as increasing the awareness of proper stroke management amongst the public and healthcare professionals.   

The MENA Stroke Initiative, which is part of a global program, is currenlty implemented in the region and in the Kingdom to enhance stroke management, in collaboration with regional stroke specialists and neurologists, aimed to implement a protocol that facilitates acute care across the region. The MENA Stroke Initiative supports doctors through the “Train the Trainer” educational program for stroke management. Doctors who receive the training are in turn qualified to train other doctors in their hospitals, creating a powerful spill-over effect in knowledge transfer.