Nishu Raina
Global burden of disease (GBD) study reported nearly 5.87 million stroke deaths globally in 2010, as compared to 4.66 million in 1990. Stroke Nearly About one-fifth of patients with an acute stroke die within a month, while the rest of the persons who survive are left with physical disability. Stroke is the second leading cause of death world and is defined as ‘a clinical syndrome consisting of rapidly developing clinical signs of focal disturbance of cerebral function lasting more than 24 hours or leading to death with no apparent cause other than a vascular origin. this definition has been given by world health organisation and in other words we can also define it as a medical emergency, arising out of sudden death of some brain cells as a result of the blood flow to the brain which is lost mainly by the blockage or rupture of an artery to the brain leading to lack of oxygen. In Ayurveda stroke is described as Pakshaghata. The present study is a case report on management of stroke of a male patient aged 61 years with chief complaints of loss of function of the right upper & lower limb. He was a diagnosed case of stroke on the basis of clinical presentation and brain computed tomography-scan. The case treated with the Ayurveda medications was found to be effective in providing relief in chief complain with improvement of overall health of the patient. Treatment protocol was snehana, swedana, mridu virechana, basti karma, shirodhara along with internal medication which is mentioned by Acharya Sushruta. After treatment NIH-Stroke Scale which was earlier 16 has been reduced to 4 & Barthel index scale which was earlier 15 was increased to 70 providing symptomatic relief too. This reveals that Ayurveda treatment modalities can play very significant role in treatment of Pakshaghata.
