Brain Attack Awareness Week 2014

Brain Attack Awareness Week for 2014

Location: Nationwide
Venue: DOH Offices
Date: From August 18, 2014 to August 22, 2014
Time: 8:00 am
Event Website: www.doh.gov.ph

1. Brain attack is more commonly known as stroke.
2. Proclamation No. 92 which was signed by former president Gloria Arroyo on 28 August 2001 declares every third (3rd) week of August as Brain Attack Awareness Week.
3. The weeklong event will campaign the awareness on this health problem that has killed many Filipinos in the past years.
4. Brain attack happens when blood circulation to the brain stops which eventually leads to dying brain cells due to decreased blood flow resulting to lack of oxygen. 
5. Paralysis or death are the serious yet common outcomes of brain attack. 
6. Stroke is a debilitating disease. 
7. Stroke, as one of the most preventable cause of disability, can be of two kinds -- hemorrhagic and infarct.
8. Hemorrhagic kind is caused by aneurysm or sudden rupture or bleeding of an artery within the brain (intracerebral) or that surrounding the brain (subarachnoid) but some are also caused by high blood pressure.
9. Infarcted kind is the most common type of brain attack which is caused by a clot or other blockage within an artery leading to the brain or a blood clot or a sudden vasospasm which is referred to as an ischemia much akin as to how a heart attack develops.
10. A basic requirement for an acute stroke unit is a CT Scan machine which can quickly determine whether the brain attack is an infarct or is hemorrhagic.
11. A 'computerized tomography' (CT) or 'computerized axial tomography' (CAT) scan uses a computer that takes data from several X-ray images of structures inside a human's or animal's body and converts them into pictures on a monitor.
12. Tomography is the process of generating a 2-dimensional image of a slice or section through a 3-dimensional object. Similar to looking at one slice of bread within the whole loaf.

Warning signs of brain attack:

• Sudden weakness or numbness in the face, arm or leg on one side of the body.
• Sudden dimness or loss of vision, particulary in one eye.
• Loss of speech or having trouble talking or understanding speech.
• Sudden, severe headaches with no known or apparent cause.
• Unexplained dizziness, unsteadiness or sudden falls, especially together with any of the previous symptoms.

These signs may only last only a few minutes--a condition due to a "mini-stroke" known as transient ischemic attack (TIA)--but you still need medical attention because this may lead to brain attack.

References:

DOH Annual Calendar
BRAIN ATTACK AWARENESS WEEK
Brain Attack Awareness Week: Third Week, August
Brain Attack Awareness Week
Proclamation No. 92 PDF
Proclamation No. 92
What What is a CT scan? What is a CAT scan?
Warning signs of brain attack