What is stroke?
Stroke is defined as the sudden interruption of cerebral circulation following an injury to the blood vessels in this area. It usually occurs unexpectedly and can develop into major neurological syndromes within minutes.
The existing types of stroke are:
- Transient ischemic attack or TIA.
- Atherothrombotic stroke or thrombosis.
- Embolic stroke or embolism.
- Hemodynamic stroke.
- Hemorrhagic stroke.
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms related to stroke are often a warning sign and depend on the part of the brain where they occur. If it occurs in the left hemisphere, it may affect the expression or comprehension of language, producing difficulty in speaking, mutism, substitution of words or syllables, failure to name objects and problems in reading and/or writing.
In the case of the right hemisphere the patient may have a lack of recognition of the left side of the body or the environment, attention problems, frequent distractions, loss of concentration, poor recognition of current or future conflicts, even without recognizing the disease itself and behavioral problems due to impulsivity or sudden changes of character.
The symptoms that occur in both cases are weakness or loss of sensitivity on the opposite side of the body, loss of vision in the opposite visual field. In severe cases it can lead to coma or death.
Causes of stroke: why does it occur?
Three basic forms of mechanism of action are known: hemorrhagic stroke (arteriosclerosis and arterial hypertension are the most frequent causes); cerebral thrombosis, with arteriosclerosis again being the most frequent cause; and, thirdly, cerebral embolism.
Can it be prevented?
As with other pathologies, stroke can be prevented by eliminating risk factors such as smoking and excessive alcohol consumption from daily life. In addition, high blood pressure and diabetes should be monitored by a specialist.
Other risk factors can lead to stroke: high cholesterol levels, obesity and certain heart pathologies, such as arrhythmia or myocardial infarction. The latter can cause blood clots that travel to the arteries of the brain, obstructing them and producing an ischemic stroke by embolism.
What is the treatment?
Specialists always consider that strokes should be treated in less than three hours by a team of neurologists to prevent complications. The first treatment applied is to inject anticoagulants to eliminate the clot or thrombus and allow normal blood flow.
In case of hemorrhage, the patient may require interventional angiography or catheterization to repair the damaged artery through stents or by inserting a clip or clamp into the aneurysm causing the bleeding. In serious situations in which the patient’s life is in danger, surgical drainage by catheter allows the blood to be expelled to the outside.
The Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN) offers a series of tips for patients who have suffered a stroke.