Ischaemic Stroke – Current aspects concerning prevention: We need to act

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Francisco
• Data de Publicação: 2004
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://revista.spmi.pt/index.php/rpmi/article/view/1748
• topic: Acidente Vascular Cerebral; prevenção; factores de risco; hipertensão arterial; lipidos; antiagregação plaquetária; estatinas; Inibidores da ECA; stroke; risk factors; hypertension; lipids; statins; ACE-inhibitors; anti-platelet aggregation

Stroke is the main cause of morbidity and mortality in Portugal. Modern Medicine is contributing to increase the mean age of the population and consequently, the numbers of patients with stroke. Thrombolysis, recently approved in Europe, benefits only a minority of patients. Thus, we consider that the only form of reducing the incidence of this disease is by controlling risk factors. In this article we emphasize the importance of primary prevention and review risk factors most strongly related to stroke, with special attention to the controllable ones, namely hypertension and dyslipidemia, among others. Recent trials that clarify the role of statins and ACE-inhibitors in primary and secondary stroke prevention are reviewed. The importance of a healthy doctor-patient relationship, as well as the need for global information strategies, are underlined as the fundamental means to achieve patient compliance with the preventive measures proposed.