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To Print Def of Stroke

A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is blocked or a blood vessel in the brain bursts, depriving brain cells of oxygen. This can cause paralysis, often on one side of the body, as well as cognitive and speech problems. There are two main types of strokes - ischemic, caused by a blood clot blocking a vessel, and hemorrhagic, caused by a ruptured vessel bleeding into the brain. Stroke affects the entire body and is a leading cause of disability.

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67 views

To Print Def of Stroke

A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is blocked or a blood vessel in the brain bursts, depriving brain cells of oxygen. This can cause paralysis, often on one side of the body, as well as cognitive and speech problems. There are two main types of strokes - ischemic, caused by a blood clot blocking a vessel, and hemorrhagic, caused by a ruptured vessel bleeding into the brain. Stroke affects the entire body and is a leading cause of disability.

Uploaded by

Kristine Young
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A stroke occurs when the blood supply to the brain is suddenly

blocked or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts. Deprived of


oxygen, nerve cells in the affected area of the brain can't
function and die within minutes.

A person with loss of blood flow to the heart is said to be having


a heart attack; similarly, a person with loss of blood flow to the
brain or sudden bleeding in the brain can be said to be having a
"brain attack."

Although stroke is a disease of the brain, it can affect the entire


body, including cognitive and memory deficits, speech problems,
emotional difficulties, daily living problems, and pain.

Paralysis is a common outcome of stroke, often on one side of


the body (hemiplegia). Paralysis may affect only the face, an arm
or a leg, or it may affect one entire side of the body and face.

A person who suffers a stroke in the left hemisphere of the brain


will show right-sided paralysis, or paresis. Likewise, a person
with a stroke in the right hemisphere will show deficits on the
left side of the body.

There are two main types of stroke:

 Ischemic strokes occur as a result of an obstruction (clot)


within a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain and account
for 87 percent of all stroke episodes.
 Hemorrhagic strokes result from a weakened blood vessel
that ruptures and bleeds into the surrounding brain.

Definitions
Stroke
A stroke (apoplexy) is the sudden onset of weakness, numbness, paralysis, slurred
speech, aphasia, problems with vision and other manifestations of a sudden
interruption of blood flow to a particular area of the brain. The ischemic area
involved determines the type of focal deficit that is seen in the patient.
Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA)
A TIA is similar to a stroke, but the interruption of blood flow is temporary. The clot
resolves sporadically. The symptoms are relatively the same as a stroke but last less
than 24 hours, whereas stroke symptoms persist for greater than 24 hours.

pathophysiology
The primary pathophysiology of stoke is an underlying heart or blood vessel disease.
The secondary manifestations in the brain are the result of one or more of these
underlying diseases or risk factors. The primary pathologies include hypertension,
atherosclerosis leading to coronary artery disease, dyslipidemia, heart disease, and
hyperlipidemia. The two types of stroke that result from these disease states are
ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes.

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