Stroke Treatment

Stroke patients usually take one or more medications on an ongoing basis to prevent additional damage from a subsequent stroke. Among them:

• Anticoagulants: The goal of anticoagulant therapy is to thin the blood. This helps prevent formation of another blood clot like the one that caused the stroke in the first place. Examples: warfarin (Coumadin), enoxaparin (Lovenox) and heparin.
• Antiplatelet drugs: The goal of this therapy is similar to anticoagulants. Medications like aspirin, clopidogrel (Plavix) and dipyridamole (Aggrenox) prevent platelets in the blood from sticking to each other and forming a clot.
• Drugs for associated conditions: For many patients, a stroke is associated with other health problems like diabetes, heart disease or hypertension. By treating these problems aggressively, doctors can reduce the risk of another stroke.
• Medications that improve diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.

To regain impaired motor functioning, many stroke patients are treated with various forms of therapy. With time and persistence, these treatments can help the patient forge new neural pathways and regain lost skills. Types of therapy include:

• Constraint-Induced Therapy helps patients who have paralysis of one upper body extremity. By restraining the non-affected hand or arm and performing exercises on the affected one, patients can often regain partial use of their extremities.
• Occupational Therapy focuses on the routine Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). This form of therapy helps patients re-learn skills that used to come naturally—like eating, using the bathroom and getting dressed.
• Physical Therapy helps patients improve skills like walking, use of arms and legs and other physical functions of the body.
• Speech Language Therapy helps patients regain the ability to speak clearly and process language and other forms of incoming information.
• Vision Therapy helps stroke patients regain use of their eyes and process visual information more efficiently.

For some stroke patients, neurosurgery can go a long way toward treating a stroke or preventing another one from happening. Baptist Neurology Group physicians have a close working relationship with Lyerly Neurosurgery, another top medical practice affiliated with Baptist Health. Physicians from both practices often combine forces to deliver outstanding care to patients recovering from stroke. Some of the most common neurosurgical procedures for stroke patients include:

• Carotid endartectomy: This procedure cleans out the insides of the carotid arteries, which supply blood to the brain. By removing clots and the buildup of plaque, the surgery improves blood flow to the brain and may help prevent future strokes.
• Craniotomy: This surgery repairs areas of the brain where blood is leaking. By stopping the internal bleeding, the procedure can save lives in the short and long term.
• Repair of aneurysm or arteriovenous malformation (AVM): Both conditions can cause a blood vessel within the brain to rupture, leaking large amounts of blood into the brain tissue and causing a stroke. Repairing these areas seals up the blood vessels and prevents the damage before it occurs.
• Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) closure: This procedure repairs a hole in the heart wall which might otherwise form clots or bubbles that can migrate to the brain and cause a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA).