Stroke

Overview

A stroke (syn. Cerebral Vascular Accident or "CVA") is a sudden, often focal, loss of brain function due to an interruption in the blood supply to all or part of the brain Loss of brain function occurs when neurons loose their oxygen supply. This is often due to a disturbance in cerebral perfusion (blood flow to the brain). There are many different causes for the interruption of blood supply, and different parts of the brain can be affected. Because of this, strokes can have many different clinical presentations. Approximately 700,000 Americans per year experience a stroke. Stroke is a medical emergency and can cause permanent neurologic damage or even death if not promptly diagnosed and treated. It is the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of adult disability in the United States and industrialized European nations. On average, a stroke occurs every 45 seconds and someone dies from a stroke every 3 minutes.

Risk factors include atherosclerosis, advanced age, hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes mellitus, high cholesterol, cigarette smoking, atrial fibrillation, ethnic identity, migraine with aura, and some blood clotting disorders. Cigarette smoking is the most important modifiable risk factor of stroke. African Americans have twice the risk of a first stroke as whites.

The term "brain attack" has been advocated fo use in the United States for stroke, just as the term "heart attack" is used for myocardial infarction, where a cutoff of blood causes necrosis to the tissue of the heart. Many hospitals have multidisciplinary "stroke teams" specifically for swift treatment of stroke.

Strokes can be classified as ischemic or hemorrhagic.

• Ischemic strokes make up about 80% of all strokes and can be due to thrombosis, embolism, or generalized cerebral hypoperfusion. Lacunae, or small vessel ischemic strokes, are responsible for about 20% of all strokes and are common in diabetes mellitus.
• Hemorrhagic strokes can be due to intracerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage subdural hemorrhageand epidural hemorrhage.

Etiology

Ischemic Strokes

Atherosclerosis is responsible for the majority of ischemic strokes, the most of the rest being accounted for by emboli from distant sites. The etiology of atherosclerosis-related strokes is very similar to that of heart attacks. An atherosclerotic plaque in a cerebral artery can gradually develop an associated thrombus or rupture suddenly causing a rapid occlusion, or the thrombus can break off and lodge in a vessel even deeper in the brain.

Ebolism of thrombi from distant sites are responsible for a large and important subset of ischemic strokes. In these cases a thrombus (blood clot) travels from its origin and lodges in a cerebral artery. Carotid artery disease is responsible for a large subset of these. Most of the rest are of cardiac origin.