Stroke Treatment in Jordan

An ischaemic stroke occurs when an artery supplying part of the brain becomes blocked and oxygen delivery stops, so cells in that area begin to die. The fact that governs everything here: **time is brain** — every minute of delay means neurons lost that are not recovered. The most important thing for people to know is therefore not the treatment but **rapid recognition and immediate transfer**. The warning signs are summarised as FAST: • **Face**: drooping or deviation of one side of the face on smiling. • **Arm**: sudden weakness or numbness of an arm or leg, especially on one side. • **Speech**: slurred or unintelligible speech, or inability to understand what is said. • **Time**: call an ambulance **immediately** and note the exact time symptoms began. Additional signs: sudden loss of vision or double vision, severe dizziness with loss of balance, and a sudden severe unusual headache. **Why timing is critical**: the treatments that restore perfusion — **thrombolysis** and **catheter clot retrieval (mechanical thrombectomy)** — have defined time windows calculated from the moment symptoms began. Beyond the window the balance reverses and treatment becomes hazardous. Therefore **do not wait for symptoms to improve, do not sleep hoping they pass, do not drive yourself, and do not give the person anything by mouth** — call an ambulance, because the hospital begins preparing before arrival. In hospital an urgent brain scan differentiates blockage from haemorrhage — a prerequisite for any treatment, since a clot-dissolving drug is catastrophic in haemorrhage. Then begins a phase no less important: **early rehabilitation** with physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, and **secondary prevention** by controlling blood pressure, glucose and lipids, treating atrial fibrillation, and antiplatelet or anticoagulant therapy — because someone who has had a stroke is at risk of another, and prevention is what stops it.