Original Article

Epidemiological Study of the Patients Diagnosed as Ischemic Stroke in the Emergency Department

10.5152/jaem.2013.035

  • Ahmet Ceylan
  • Ahmet Burak Erdem
  • Fatih Büyükcam
  • Umut Yücel Çavuş

Received Date: 18.02.2013 Accepted Date: 29.04.2013 Eurasian J Emerg Med 2014;13(1):10-14

Objective:

Stroke, heart disease and cancer is the third cause of death in the world and the most important reason of disability. To increase the level of one’s living standards and treatment of cases of stroke, the epidemiological and etiological factors should be carefully examined and reported.

Material and Methods:

One hundred and two patients admitted to the emergency department and hospitalized in the neurology service were included the study. Their demographic properties, co-morbid diseases, laboratory results, electrocardiogram (ECG), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imagining (MRI) a Doppler ultrasonography (USG) data were evaluated retrospectively.

Results:

Eighteen (17.6%) of the patients died during follow-up. Seventeen patients (16.7%) were regular smokers, and 4 (3.9%) used alcohol regularly. In 25 (24.5%) of the patients, atrial fibrillation was detected with ECG. In the echocardiographic examinations, 18 (24.3%) patients were shown to have an ejection fraction (EF) of less than 50%, while 6 patients were found to have less than 35% of EF. Ischemia could not be diagnosed with CT in 16 of the patients; the diagnoses of these patients were made using diffusion MRI. Doppler ultrasound examination of patients showed the following results: Complete or more than 50% occlusion was detected with Doppler USG in the right internal carotid artery (ICA) in 20.6%, and in the left ICA in 10.3%. Asymptomatic plaques were detected in the right common carotid artery in 54.4% of patients, and in the left common carotid artery in 50%.

Conclusion:

The early diagnosis and treatment of stroke and the preventable risk factors such as atrial fibrillation (AF), hypertension (HT), hyperlipidemia (HL) and diabetes mellitus (DM) will reduce morbidity associated with stroke.

Keywords: Ischemic stroke, epidemiology, morbidity