Stroke or Brain Attack is a disease that involves the blood vessels that supply blood to the brain.
A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that brings oxygen and nutrients to the brain ruptures or is clogged by a blood clot or some other mass.
Without adequate supply of oxygen, nerve cells of the brain can't work and die within minutes. When nerve cells can't work, the area of the body they control can't work either.
Causes of stroke include wandering clots (an embolus) from the heart, fatty buildups (atherosclerotic lesions) on the aortic arch or the vessels of the neck or brain, stenosis or narrowing of the arteries of the neck and the brain or primary diseases affecting the arteries of the central nervous system known as vasculitis.
Diseases associated with strokes include diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, carotid disease, atrial fibrillation or other heart disease, history of TIAs (mini-strokes), sickle cell anemia, obesity, fibromuscular dysplasia, connective tissue disorders, other family members with history of strokes.
Approximately 700,000 strokes occur in the United States annually.
How to identify
Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body.
Sudden confusion, difficulties speaking or understanding.
Sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes.
Sudden gait troubles, dizziness or loss of balance and or coordination.
Diagnosis
MRI and CT scans can recognize the presence of strokes.
MR-angiograms, CT-angiograms and Cerebral angiography provide complementary, important information regarding the location of the vessel occlusion, the degree of brain tissue affected, and the collateral circulation to the affected part of the brain.
Treatment
Consult a specialist doctor
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