Heart Monitors May Prevent Future Strokes
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iStock/Thinkstock(CHICAGO) — Strokes are both frightening and frustrating, often resulting in problems with speech and cognition and sometimes, paralysis.
Adding to the frustration is that about 40 percent of stroke victims never find out what exactly caused the stroke and after leaving the hospital, they’re often unsure about what therapy to pursue.
However, Dr. Rod Passman, a cardiologist at Northwestern University, says more physicians have been equipping stroke patients with heart monitors that can detect one potential cause, that is, atrial fibrillation, which is a fast and irregular heartbeat.
If a monitor discovers that atrial fibrillation is occurring, doctors can change prescriptions to put stroke victims on a better blood thinning medication in order to prevent blockages.
This is especially important since those who’ve suffered strokes have a 500 percent chance of having another one if diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.
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