Koch Suffers Dizziness, Enters Hospital

Mayor Edward I. Koch experienced dizziness, nausea and slurred speech Thursday while riding in his official limousine and was rushed to a hospital in Manhattan where doctors said it appeared that he had suffered a spasm of a cerebral artery.

Physicians at Lenox Hill Hospital on Park Avenue first feared that Koch, 62, had undergone a stroke, but at a briefing several hours later they gave a more optimistic report and said that the mayor should not have any permanent medical damage.

The doctors said Koch was in good condition, his speech had returned to normal and an initial group of tests were negative. The diagnosis, pending further studies, was that Koch had suffered a transient ischemic attack, labeled TIA--an arterial spasm that resulted in a temporarily diminished supply of blood to the brain. Such attacks sometimes can be symptoms of impending strokes.

Symptoms Disappear

“I am pleased to report the mayor has improved,” said Dr. Anthony Mustalish, chief of emergency services at the hospital. All signs and symptoms are negative. . . . He no longer has any symptoms of slurring of speech or any other symptoms. He’s alert, awake, joking and feeling quite good.”

Mustalish added that tests would continue, but said: “A TIA is temporary, it is totally reversible. It has no long-term effects and may never occur again.”

Dr. Roger Bonomo, a neurologist treating the mayor, said that people suffering from a TIA “are at somewhat higher risk of having a stroke.” Physicians prescribed regular doses of aspirin for the mayor to ward off further attacks.

Slurring Easily Missed

Mustalish said when the mayor arrived in the emergency room, the slurring of his speech was slight and “could have been missed by people who didn’t know him. It cleared up within two hours.”

Nevertheless, the mayor and his advisers in the official limousine had a bad scare.

Koch was on his way to Harlem after attending a forum on AIDS when he started to complain of feeling ill. The mayor said he was dizzy and nauseated.

“I think we ought to go to Lenox Hill or Bellevue,” William Grinker, commissioner of the city’s Human Resources Administration, who was in the car, quoted Koch as saying.

Journey Lasts a Minute

At the time, the car was three blocks from Lenox Hill Hospital. A police officer in the front seat turned on a siren as the driver sped through several red lights on the way to the emergency room. The journey took about a minute--”a very, very long minute,” said George Arzt, Koch’s press spokesman, who was also in the limousine.

Police closed several streets surrounding the hospital soon after the mayor was admitted. Doormen and residents of luxury co-op apartment houses on Park Avenue near the hospital gathered in front of their buildings to watch a throng of reporters. A half-dozen parked television camera trucks slowed Park Avenue traffic.

Koch has had several medical scares while in office. In 1981, he almost choked to death while eating in a Chinatown restaurant, but was saved when a dinner companion performed the Heimlich maneuver. In 1983 he became dizzy and collapsed in the rest room of another restaurant after eating a big meal. Doctors said the mayor had merely overeaten.