KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — Sometimes stroke patients referred to the programme come in having the ability to say phrases like “cat” however are unable to create a full sentence with the phrase, Dr Mazlina Mazlan stated.
After as few as 10 therapies patients can type full sentences once more, the medical specialist advisor in rehabilitation drugs from the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) informed eNews Malaysia.
“I do have a number of movies of patients who, earlier than they begin the treatment, can say one thing like ‘cat’, ‘father’, however they can not type a sentence or clarify a narrative or image.
“But after 10 classes, they begin to say, ‘The cat sits right here’. You can actually see the distinction in the construction of the phrases once they begin to talk once more,” she stated.
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Although it’s not a hard-and-fast rule that each one patients should full 10 classes, it’s the common primarily based on international research, she stated.
She defined that the ten classes could be accomplished in as shortly as two weeks as classes are ideally carried out each day on weekdays.
As UMMC is a public well being facility, the price of the preliminary evaluation and 10 treatment classes is round RM2,000 however it’s free for pensioners and civil servants, she added.
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The treatment itself is a non-invasive mind stimulation that takes about 20 to 40 minutes.
“We can both use a weak electrical present to immediately stimulate the neurons and make them more energetic or make use of a magnetic subject to induce electrical exercise in these neurons,” she stated.
The former known as transcranial direct present stimulation (TDCS) whereas the latter is named transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).
Afterwards, inside the similar day because the treatment, the affected person undergoes bodily remedy, if their points lie in motor expertise, and speech remedy, if they’ve points with language and communication.
The most important problem that Dr Mazlina’s staff faces is definitely an absence of appropriate patients.
Dr Mazlina Mazlan demonstrates what the treatment seems like with an assistant. — Picture courtesy of Dr Mazlina Mazlan
In the 4 or 5 years that the programme had been working, she estimates having seen solely 70 to 80 patients endure it.
Another problem is that patients usually come to them later than they’d like.
Dr Mazlina stated that the perfect time for the treatment is inside the first three months after having suffered the stroke.
The ultimate affected person is somebody who has suffered a stroke of average severity as gentle circumstances are sometimes capable of get well on their very own whereas extreme circumstances could have an excessive amount of widespread injury, she defined.
“Only about 50 per cent of all stroke patients could have an opportunity to have the profit of the treatment as a result of they’re those which can be reasonably extreme that means that they nonetheless have some motion — they’ll get well with our intensive remedy and we need to improve that,” she stated.
The treatment does have side-effects, she admitted. It was principally confined to complications and seizures on the intense finish, although these are extraordinarily uncommon: the chance is lower than 0.01 per cent.
A false impression she usually offers with is that patients mistake the treatment for electroconvulsive remedy (ECT).
“The process is secure, however patients are typically scared as a result of they assume of ECT.
“But the patients even have soothing background music, and so they simply have to take a seat there and chill,” she stated.
The use of electrical energy to enhance mind lesions is nothing new to the medical subject as they used electrical fish in the time of the traditional Roman empire, she stated.
She stated that the treatment was initially used to deal with main depressive dysfunction however was discovered to be efficient for stroke patients as nicely.
Currently, patients come to the centre for treatment by word-of-mouth or referrals, however Dr Mazlina hopes that numbers will improve.
With the expertise of the previous few years, she and her staff are assured in their potential to handle issues and the data the process is secure.
“We hope that docs can refer more patients to us and provides probabilities to those that have an opportunity to get well.
“Rather than patients being keen to spend lots of of 1000’s of ringgit on therapies that aren’t confirmed, why not strive one thing that’s secure?” she stated.
