Objectives : Stroke is the most common disabling neurological disease of adult life. The treatment and rehabilitation of stroke patients is an important and challenging area in the field of medicine. In Korea, a lot of stroke patients are treated using oriental medicine and there have been reports on the functional recovery. The aim of this study was to prove therapeutic effect of oriental medicine on ischemic stroke. And we tried to identify characteristics of patients whose functional recovery was prominent. We also studied whether the use of fluids, anticoagulants, antiplatelets and neuroprotective agents increased functional recovery of patients or not.
Methods : We studied 794 patients within 2 weeks after first attack of ischemic stroke who were admitted to Kyung-Hee Oriental Medical center from 1999 to 2000. Their maximum admission period was 60 days.
Results : Motor power grade, NIHSS and MBI scores of patients improved during hospitalization significantly. Affecting factors on functional recovery were admission period, motor power grade, NIHSS and MBI at admission. Age, waist hip ratio and HDL cholesterol also affected functional recovery of patients. It had nothing to do with functional recovery whether fluids, anticoagulants, antiplatelets and neuroprotective agents were administered or not.
Conclusion : Oriental medicine is effective for treatment and rehabilitation of ischemic stroke patients. When we manage stroke, we have to consider some important factors.