A stroke is an illness in which part of the brain loses its blood supply.
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This can happen if an artery that feeds blood to the brain gets clogged, or if it tears and leaks.
Stroke | |
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Classification and external resources | |
ICD-10 | I61.-I64.ner |
ICD-9 | 434.91 |
OMIM | 601367 |
DiseasesDB | 2247 |
MedlinePlus | 000726 |
eMedicine | neuro/9 emerg/558 emerg/557 pmr/187 |
MeSH | D020521 |
A stroke is when there is a lack of blood flow to the brain. There are two types of strokes. One is when there is a blood clot blocking the artery. The other type of stroke is when a blood vessel bursts and there is blood moving around freely in the brain.
A stroke is the rapid loss of brain function(s) due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can happen because of ischemia (lack of blood flow) caused by blockage (thrombosis, arterial embolism), or a haemorrhage (leakage of blood).
As a result, the affected area of the brain cannot work properly. Symptoms might include: hemiplegia (an inability to move one or more limbs on one side of the body), aphasia (inability to understand or use language), or an inability to see one side of the visual field.
A stroke is a medical emergency. It can cause permanent damage. If it is not quickly treated, it may lead to death. It is the third most common cause of death and the most common cause of disability for adults in the United States and Europe.
Strokes happen on both the left and right side of the brain. When a stroke happens on the left side of someone’s brain, it affects the right side of the body. It can also cause problems with the patient’s speech and language. If a stroke affects the right side of the brain, it affects the left side of the body. It also changes patient’s spatial (relating to space) perceptions. Getting a stroke on the right side of the brain can also cause people to not acknowledge their illness. Patients behave impulsively and neglect the side of their body.
Factors that increase the risk of a stroke include old age, high blood pressure, a previous stroke, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, atrial fibrillation, migraine with aura, and thrombophilia (a tendency to thrombosis). Of those factors, the most easy to fix are high blood pressure and smoking.
The Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale was designed to help "pre-hospital" medical professionals (like EMTs) identify a possible stroke before the patient gets to the hospital. It tests three basic signs. If any of these signs are not normal, the patient may be having a stroke and should be transported to a hospital as soon as possible.
About 72% of patients who cannot do one of these three tasks normally are having an ischemic stroke. More than 85% of patients who cannot do all three tasks are having an acute stroke.
The 'spot a stroke' campaign, created by the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association, teaches everyday people how to recognize a stroke. It teaches the basic tests from the Cincinnati Stroke Scale, using the acronym FAST:
Once the patient is in the hospital, doctors can find out for sure whether they are having a stroke by looking at their brain with special scanning machines, like an MRI or a CT scanner.
Strokes can kill. To prevent a stroke, doctors advise people to:
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