Stroke: Definition, Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Stroke is known by many other names: brain accident, stroke, brain attack, or stroke.; and it is feared by anyone, regardless of how it is labeled.

The cause of this fear is that the effects of a stroke can be fatal for the person, ranging from the appearance of any type of disability to death. To get an idea, strokes are the third leading cause of death in the western part of the world.

Hence, it is so extremely important to know what they consist of and what their first symptoms are, in order to avoid any greater evil in the person.

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what is a stroke? Definition

A stroke consists of the interruption of blood flow to the brain due to a blocked or ruptured blood vessel. This suspension of blood supply to the brain means that the neurons do not receive enough oxygen and begin to die.

If we take into account that the brain it is responsible for the functioning of everything that the person does: walk, think, speak, move, and even breathe, this can end with some type of disability; Coming to cause permanent damage to the brain or even death if said stroke is not detected in time.

Two types of stroke can be distinguished:

1. ischemic stroke

Due to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques in the arterial vessels that inject blood into the brain, preventing its passage. Other times, this pause in blood flow is caused by a larger-than-usual blood clot.

2. hemorrhagic stroke

In this type of stroke the rupture of a blood vessel in the brain, and the consequent spillage of blood through it, causes an intracranial hemorrhage It can also affect the membranes that surround the brain and the meninges.

Causes and risk factors

There are three main reasons that cause a stroke:

1. Obstruction of the arteries by a clot or hardening: prone in people with arteriosclerosis, diabetes, high cholesterol levels or hypertension.

2. Obstruction due to a cerebral embolism: in this type of accident a blood clot, belonging to any area of ​​the body, travels through it until it meets a narrow artery where it gets stuck.

3. Intracranial hemorrhage caused by rupture, rupture due to hardening or congestion of the blood vessels, also called aneurysm, or due to hypertension.

Although many of these causes are associated with various diseases with risk of stroke, there are factors of risk, some of them preventable, so that an apparently healthy person can suffer any of the types of stroke cerebral.

Unchangeable risk factors

These risk factors are impossible to control or modify by the person. These are:

• Genetics: If there is a family history of stroke, this person may be more prone to one.
• Age: Older people are more prone to having a stroke.
• Sex: Men are generally more likely than women to have one of these strokes.
• Born with a more fragile heart than usual or have an altered heart rate.
• First months after pregnancy: Women who have just given birth may be more prone to having a stroke after the first few months.

Controllable risk factors

However, there are other elements that also influence when suffering a cardiovascular incident but that can be modified or controlled:

• Physical inactivity: regular physical exercise decreases the likelihood of stroke
• High cholesterol levels: the possibility of having a stroke increases when blood cholesterol levels exceed 240 mg/dL
• Obesity
• anxiety or stress
• Tobacco

Symptoms

The bad reputation and fear of strokes comes, in addition to the consequences that this can have, because in many cases the symptoms They appear suddenly, and the person does not perceive any of them and therefore does not realize that he is having an accident. cerebrovascular.

Symptoms that usually warn of a stroke are:

• Severe headache with no apparent cause
• Confusion and speech difficulties
• Loss of vision in one or both eyes
• Numbness or weakness in the face, arms and legs (especially on one side of the body)
• Dizziness, dizziness, and loss of balance or coordination

FAST Stroke Test

However, there is a protocol for rapid detection of a stroke. This protocol called FAST (Face, Arms, Speech, Time) is vital in view of the possibility of detecting a stroke and saving lives, only the appearance of one of them being cause for alarm.

The test consists of observing a series of milestones:

1. Expensive: If the person can only move one side of the face, it is a sign of a stroke. To do this, the person is asked to smile and it is observed if both sides are the same or not.

2. Arms: The person is asked to raise their arms, in the case of only being able to raise one, or feeling difficulties in the other, it is another sign.

3. Speaks: Asking the person to say their first and last name, their address or simply to repeat a sentence, if they do not coordinate the words or do it very slowly, it is considered an indication of a stroke.

4. Time: Whether you have all three signs or only one, it is vitally important to contact the emergency services to intervene as soon as possible, since after the first hour from the onset of symptoms the damage may be irreversible.

Diagnosis

For a correct diagnosis of stroke it is necessary both to identify what type of spill it is, how to determine the location and cause.

As a first step in identifying the type of effusion, clinicians may resort to head CT or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Next, there are different tests and techniques to get the rest of the information about the spill. For example:

• Blood test
• Electrocardiograms (ECG)
• cerebral angiography
• Ultrasound of the carotid or Doppler ultrasound.

Treatment

As mentioned above, a stroke requires emergency treatment, which can reduce the probability of disability and even save the patient's life.

The choice of treatment will depend on the type of stroke, but in any case the priority is to restore blood flow when it is an ischemic stroke, and reduce brain pressure in case it is hemorrhagic.

In the event that the cause of the stroke is a blood clot, and this is detected during the first hours after the start of the stroke, the patient is given a clot-reducing drug, which will thin the clot and encourage blood flow to the area harmed.

In addition to this emergency treatment, There are two more types of treatment to contain the effects of strokes:

1. intracranial vascular systems

Endovascular interventions are used to increase blood flow in the veins and arteries of the brain. This treatment consists of introducing a catheter along the blood vessels until it reaches the brain. Once there, the catheter can leave different elements:

• Drugs to dissolve blood mass
• Vacuum systems or mechanized removers
• Balloons and stents, used to keep the vessels open
• Aneurysm repair metal coils

2. Surgery

Through the use of surgery the medical professional can stir up spilled blood around the brain as well as mend broken blood vessels.

After a stroke, most people need to attend rehabilitation in order to recover the functions that may have been affected by the stroke. As well as the re-education of the patient to eliminate those risk factors that could facilitate the appearance of a second stroke.