A doctor – who is a regular on BBC Morning Live – has revealed that a quick 15-minute test that could help doctors determine the type of stroke a patient has experienced, or is currently having. Speaking on the show, Dr Xand van Tulleken explained what the test is, urging people to remember one word – FACE.
He explained: “This is not a test you need to do yourself. This is a test being trial by paramedics, so ambulance crews.
“It’s a rapid test, like a Covid test, and there are they’re looking for two different things, two proteins in the blood.” These proteins indicate “signs of clotting and brain cell damage.”
As a result, if a stroke is suspected, this test helps paramedics identify the type of stroke the patient has had. He added: “What it’s looking for is a large vessel occlusion stroke.”
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BBC Morning Live)
According to the NHS, “a stroke is when blood stops flowing to a part of your brain. ” It can affect things like speech and movement, and take a long time to recover.
A stroke needs urgent medical help in hospital because it can be life-threatening. Dr Xand further explained when blood flow gets blocked to the brain , which is what occurs during a stroke, “it’s a big bit of the brain that’s under threat and although they only account for 30% of strokes, it’s about 95% of deaths and 60% of disabilities caused by these large vessel occlusions.”
This test will not only help to detect the type, but it is “key” to a speedy response as it means medical professionals can also act fast with treatment. Showing just how key acting fast is, the expert stressed to viewers at home: “The statistic we use is 2 million brain cells die every single minute and you will not get those brain cells back.
“That means for every 15 minutes, you can shave off the time towards getting treatment. You can reduce long-term disability by around 4%. That’s a very big deal.”
The doctor say that with some strokes, there are only 24 hospitals in the UK that can do certain procedures with removing clots. But he says that unless you live near one that does it, many people are traveling, on average, three hours in between hospitals just to get the correct treatment however this fingerprint test will change things.
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BBC Morning Live)
“So if you can do this blood test quickly and you can get yourself to a specialist center that means you can go to a special center more quickly, and it means you can save lives and prevent long-term disability.” Stressing “the most important start”, he says people who are having a stroke (if they can) or people near them must use FACT.
This stands for:
- Face weak
- Arm weakness
- Speech problems
- Time to call 999
Other symptoms of a stroke
There are other signs that you or someone else is having a stroke. These include:
- weakness or numbness down 1 side of your body
- blurred vision or loss of sight in 1 or both eyes
- finding it difficult to speak or think of words
- confusion and memory loss
- feeling dizzy or falling over
- a severe headache
- feeling or being sick (nausea or vomiting)
This acronym covers “all types of strokes” with Dr Xand continuing: “Call 999 quickly.
“The stat that I want you to remember is the time between someone getting their first symptoms – maybe their arm goes weak or their speech to get slowed – between that and a 999 call is 88 minutes, typically. So it’s almost an hour and a half people wait and people wait because they think oh I hope I’m not having a stroke, they’re in denial, they don’t want to trouble the ambulance service.
“They don’t want to hassle the doctor. When you call 999 you’re not ordering an ambulance like you’re ordering a taxi you are consulting a healthcare professional, who will help you.
“Do not hesitate to call 999 if something is not working, they will advise you. You are talking to a healthcare professional, but there are a lot of treatments for strokes which will dramatically affect the outcome.”
