National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) has estimated that about 600,000 people in Taiwan suffer from atrial fibrillation — an irregular and often rapid heart rate — and that elderly people who have the condition are five times more likely to suffer a stroke than someone with a regular heartbeat, an NTUH physician said.
A 62-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃) has chronic hypertension and diabetes. She suffered three strokes in 13 years, was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation after the second stroke, and had to undergo a cardiac catheter ablation and begin taking an anticoagulant.
Huang suffered side effects from taking the anticoagulant medication and had a third stroke about two years ago. Doctors suggested that she undergo a left atrial catheterization last year.
The surgery went smoothly and she has not suffered symptoms since, NTUH said.
Irregular heart beat from atrial fibrillation can cause blood clots to form in the left atrium of the heart, NTUH cardiologist Tsai Chia-ti (蔡佳醍) said, adding that when they are pumped out of the heart and travel to the brain, they can sometimes block the blood supply to an artery in the brain, causing a stroke.
Elderly people are at an increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation, with an estimated prevalence of about one in every 10 people aged 75 or older, he said.
The estimated prevalence of the condition among Taiwan’s population is about 2.5 percent, amounting to about 600,000 people, he added.
While one out of every six people who have suffered a stroke has atrial fibrillation, many of them are not aware of it until after their first stroke occurs, Tsai said.
An anticoagulant is generally used to treat atrial fibrillation, but it can cause adverse side effects, such as gastrointestinal hemorrhaging or even cerebral hemorrhaging, which has a high mortality rate, Tsai said, adding that people with chronic liver disease should not take anticoagulants regularly.
A left atrial catheterization can reduce the risk of suffering a stroke by 70 percent, Tsai said.
However, patients with atrial fibrillation are advised to first discuss their health condition with a doctor to find the most suitable treatment, Tsai said.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS