Management of stroke in the elderly.
Stroke management involves prevention, management of the acute stroke and rehabilitation. Hypertension is probably the most important controllable risk factor in stroke, both ischaemic and haemorrhagic. In the acute stroke, there is as yet no effective medical treatment. Care in the acute phase is mainly supportive with attention to airways, feeding, skin, bowel and bladder care. Rehabilitation aims to maximise the patient's natural recovery and to help him adapt to any residual disability. It involves a multidisciplinary team approach. An accurate and comprehensive assessment of the patient is important to enable the team to set realistic goals. Goals set usually involve functional end-points. The type of community and home support available will influence decision of whether patient could be discharged home. Ideally a patient should be rehabilitated back into his community and support of carers is important if they are to continue with their caring role.
Lee
K S
KS
Department of Geriatric Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore.
Owen
R E
RE
Choo
P W
PW
Jayaratnam
F J
FJ
D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D010351:Patient Discharge; D012307:Risk Factors