Don Sims

Stroke Medicine  120,000 stroke in the UK  1.2 million living with the after effects of stroke  3 rd leading cause of death  Huge burdens on carers both financially and emotionally

Stroke Medicine  Subspecialty in its own right  Stroke consultants come from a parent specialty and train for 1 extra year Geriatric Medicine Neurology Acute Medicine Pharmacology Cardiology

Stroke Medicine  Geriatric Medicine skill set needed for most patients  Needs based rather than age based 25 year old with a significant stroke needs many of the same skills brought to bear as a 85 year old Holistic attitude to patients Even though this is a single organ illness – most of the patients aren’t

Stroke Medicine  Stroke medicine has moved on more in the last 10 years than many other specialty areas  Thrombolysis has made a huge difference to a proportion of patients  Newer treatments constantly being developed  Research is currently looking at interventions from neuroprotective agents to stem cell injections

Thrombectomy

Clot retrieval Pre clot retrievalPost clot retrieval

Stroke Medicine  Specialty which is constantly changing  Needs involvement across the whole patient pathway Very sick acutely ill patient in the ED Medically complicated sick frail adults on the ward Rehabilitating patients trying to maximise their functional status

Stroke Medicine  “The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease” Voltaire  However occasionally it feels like it was actually you….