Schlaganfall

Der Schlaganfall - obwohl dritthäufigste Todesursache in den Industrieländern und mit den höchsten Folgekosten verbunden - wird häufig als nicht behandelbares schicksalshaftes Ereignis angesehen. Das Buch beschreibt die im deutschen Sprachraum vertretenen Auffassungen und üblichen Strategien für Diagnostik und Therapie und grenzt sich dadurch zur angloamerikanischen Literatur ab. Damit ist es das umfassende Standardwerk über akute zerebrovaskuläre Erkrankungen aus zentraleuropäischer Sicht.

"Home is as old as one's skin but as elusive as an object seen through the wrong end of a telescope." It is this sense of a view, skewed, intangible, which echoes throughout Karen Lazar's Hemispheres. Waking in hospital after a post-operative stroke, she finds one side of her body paralysed and her world knocked out of kilter. Spatial, perceptual and subjective changes force her to view her new life in facets. The fragmented view is made apparent by means of a triptych of clusters which charts Karen's experience from Metamorphosis, through Rehabilitation and Adaptation. Quietly reflective, deeply lyrical, Hemispheres is concerned with returning separated parts into a whole and coming home to the self.

Stroke Essentials for Primary Care: A Practical Guide is a must-have resource, offering the essential, practical knowledge required to evaluate and treat stroke patients. While an indispensable guide for primary care clinicians, including family practitioners and medical internists who often assume the care of stroke patients without the aid of a neurologist (primarily in underserved areas), the information contained herein is also an invaluable resource to all physicians in training, especially residents and fellows in neurology, cardiology, and surgery, among others. Stroke Essentials for Primary Care: A Practical Guide provides the latest diagnostic and treatment information that allows for greater clinical confidence. Designed to allow easy access to essential information, most chapters include a quick summary of their content and conclusions. Chapters review information on such topics as distinguishing features of presentation, rapid determination of stroke type, prevention strategies, long-term complications, and special topics that may apply to specific populations. Targeted and easy to read, Stroke Essentials for Primary Care: A Practical Guide is an essential resource for all practitioners in primary care medicine and specialty physicians in training.

Ich bin Tierärztin, habe als Rentnerin im Alter von 72 Jahren einen Schlaganfall erlitten und wurde, nachdem ich zunächst linksseitig völlig gelähmt war, dank tüchtiger Therapeuten und der Hilfe meines Mannes innerhalb von drei Jahren so selbständig, dass ich trotz einiger noch bestehender Behinderungen unser Rentner-Dasein wieder aktiv mitgestalten kann. Es gab mehrere Gründe, die mich bewogen, der Anregung mehrerer Therapeuten zu folgen und meine tagebuchähn-lichen, sich von der Frührehabilitation bis zur allmählichen Wiedereingliederung in den häuslichen Haushalt erstrecken-den Aufzeichnungen auszuarbeiten und einem größeren Kreis der von einem Schlaganfall betroffenen Menschen zugänglich zu machen. Insbesondere möchte ich alle Leidensgenossen ermutigen, trotz aller Probleme und Rückschläge nicht zu verzagen! Zum anderen hoffe ich, dass die Schilderung meiner eige-nen Wahrnehmungen und Empfindungen dazu beitragen kann, nach einem Schlaganfall behinderte Menschen besser zu verstehen. Außerdem halte ich es für wichtig, darauf hinzuweisen, wie viel liebevolles Verständnis, Geduld und Kraft die veränderte Lebenssituation den nächsten Ange-hörigen abverlangt.

Despite major advances in the understanding of stroke mechanisms that have occurred over the past quarter century, stroke continues to rank among the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Although currently it may be difficult to believe, early doubts were expressed as to whether inter­ ventions in risk factors for either coronary disease or stroke would actually lead to a reduction in the incidence of these disorders. However, large clini­ cal trials in hypertension, carotid disease, atrial fibrillation, and antithrombotic and antiplatelet therapies have effectively demonstrated the efficacy of these targeted interventions in reducing stroke incidence. More recently, after earlier uncertainty regarding the role of elevated lipids as a risk factor for stroke, clinical trials of the statins have also demonstrated a significant reduction in the incidence of ischemic stroke. However, as em­ phasized in Handbook of Stroke Prevention in Clinical Practice, despite these gains and the initial decline in stroke incidence that did occur in the 1960s and 1970s, the incidence of stroke disappointingly has failed to show a fur­ ther significant decline since that time. The editors of Handbook of Stroke Prevention in Clinical Practice raise the very important question of whether recognized strategies for stroke preven­ tion have been widely or effectively implemented. They correctly empha­ size the critical importance of identifying the mechanism of stroke in each patient so as to properly direct prevention and treatment. As Dr.