Ian Reichman was a 22-year-old with the world, and a soccer ball, at his feet.
Tearing through the field on a Friday afternoon in Sydney, Mr Reichman, who had always suffered from migraines, began to notice his arms going numb, but didn’t think much of it at the time.
Five minutes after leaving the ground, he fell, tried to get up using the right side of his body but collapsed and lost consciousness.
Reichman woke up three weeks later in Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital, having suffered a stroke that nearly claimed his life.
Camera icon Ian Reichman was 22 years old and in perfect health when he suffered a stroke while playing soccer with friends. Credit Provided: Camera Icon Provided He spent four weeks in a coma and a year in rehab after his stroke. Credit Provided: Provided
Now 30, Reichman said there was nothing physically wrong with him to suggest he was at risk for the disease.
“I just started university and it was really good,” he told NCA NewsWire this week.
He didn’t smoke, wasn’t a drug user, and partied within fairly reasonable limits for an undergraduate.
Reichman spent four weeks in a coma, two weeks in the hospital, nine weeks in a rehabilitation center and a year of assisted walking in general rehabilitation.
He said there was “nothing” to suggest he was at risk of stroke and he had no family history of the condition.
Ten and a half years later, Reichman, while saying he will never be “normal,” said at age 30 that “life is good.”
He works for a disability company that works with the National Disability Insurance Scheme and goes to the gym, but still walks with a significant limp in his right hand and has a substantially weaker right leg.
Camera Icon Mr Reichman said “life is good” 30 years after his stroke, although he still walked with a significant limp in his right leg. Credit Provided: Provided
Mr. Reichman’s experience, while unusual in a man of his age, is puzzling.
According to the Stroke Foundation, more than 27,000 Australians had a stroke for the first time in 2020, 24% of whom were under the age of 54.
The Stroke Foundation, in its top 10 facts about stroke, said the disease killed more women than breast cancer each year and more men than prostate cancer.
Now, a new trial hopes to illuminate the warning signs and bring down one of the country’s biggest killers.
It is led by the Heart Research Institute’s director of external affairs, Ben Freedman, who hopes the trial, aimed at people over 70, will give them a wider understanding of the simple and often harmless antecedents that are often a warning sign. for a stroke
Professor Freedman said one in 10 Australians did not know they had atrial fibrillation or an irregular heartbeat at the time of the stroke.
It is using this fact to guide widespread testing of Australians over 70 for atrial fibrillation using a wearable thumb device, with the aim of testing the hypothesis that more intensive electrocardiogram (ECG) testing will reduce stroke and death.
An EKG exam records the heart’s electrical signals and is commonly used to detect heart problems.
“The aim of the trial is to show that early detection of AF (atrial fibrillation) will decrease the risk of stroke in this patient group and potentially lead to a national screening program for early detection of AF, as we see with breast mammograms. cancer,” said Professor Freedman.
Camera icon Professor Ben Freedman hopes a new test will help detect the warning signs of a stroke earlier. Provided / Heart Research Institute Credit: Provided
“AF is the most common abnormal heart rhythm and is often asymptomatic, but early diagnosis could save your life.”
Professor Freedman said about a third of strokes could be attributed to AF, and for many there was no family history of the condition.
He said the prevalence of the condition increased with age, affecting around 10% of people over the age of 70 and increasing the risk of stroke up to fivefold.
The trial will approach people through their GP in selected practices, and has already started at the University of Cambridge in the UK.
“They will use a new wrist ECG device to record heart rate four times a day, three days a week,” Professor Freedman said.
“Patients will be randomized to the active screening or control arm to answer the question of whether population screening will prevent stroke,” he said.
“Once AF has been diagnosed on a screening ECG, patients will be asked to visit their GP surgery to discuss care and management.”
He said the explosion of consumer-led wrist-worn pulse monitoring devices, such as Fitbit and Apple watches, could allow people to detect the presence of AF, but added there were “complexities” in how they might be interpreted by doctors.
“The issue for clinicians is what people are doing with these results and how they are being interpreted,” Professor Freedman said.
“They are not the silver bullet for understanding heart health.”
Professor Freedman said his results “should be treated with caution”.
“That’s why we need more research on the wearable EKG,” he said.
“We need to bridge the healthcare gap between consumer-led and physician-led interventions.
“The speed at which technology is changing is amazing, but it can be a medical minefield. That’s why it’s so important that we conduct this critical research.”