STROKE

A stroke , also known as a cerebrovascular accident (CVA ), is the rapid loss of brain function(s) due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia (lack of blood flow) caused by blockage (thrombosis, arterial embolism), or a hemorrhage (leakage of blood). [1] As a result, the affected area of the brain cannot function, which might result in an inability to move one or more limbs on one side of the body , inability to understand or formulate speech, or an inability to see one side of the visual field .[2] A stroke is a medical emergency and can cause permanent neurological damage, complications, and death. It is the leading cause of adult disability in the United States and Europe and the second leading cause of death worldwide. [3]Risk factors for stroke include old age, hypertension (high blood pressure), previous stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), diabetes, high cholesterol, cigarette smoking and atrial fibrillation .[2] High blood pressure is the most important modifiable risk factor of stroke. [2] A silent stroke is a stroke that does not have any outward symptoms, and the patients are typically unaware they have suffered a stroke. Despite not causing identifiable symptoms, a silent stroke still causes damage to the brain, and places the patient at increased risk for both transient ischemic attack and major stroke in the future. Conversely, those who have suffered a major stroke are at risk of having silent strokes. [4] In a broad study in 1998, more than 11 million people were estimated to have experienced a stroke in the United States. Approximately 770,000 of these strokes were symptomatic and 11 million were first-ever silent MRI infarcts or hemorrhages. Silent strokes typically cause lesions which are detected via the use of neuroimaging such as MRI. Silent strokes are estimated to occur at five times the rate of symptomatic strokes. [5][6] The risk of silent stroke increases with age, but may also affect younger adults and children, especially those with acute anemia.[5][7] An ischemic stroke is occasionally treated in a hospital with thrombolysis (also known as a "clot buster"), and some hemorrhagic strokes benefit from neurosurgery. Treatment to recover any lost function is termed stroke rehabilitation, ideally in a stroke unit and involving health professions such as speech and language therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy . Prevention of recurrence may involve the administration of antiplatelet drugs such as aspirin and dipyridamole , control and reduction of hypertension , and the use of statins. Selected patients may benefit from carotid endarterectomy and the use of anticoagulants.[2] Classification A slice of brain from the autopsy of a person who suffered an acute middle cerebral artery (MCA) stroke Strokes can be classified into two major categories: ischemic and hemorrhagic.[8] Ischemic strokes are those that are caused by interruption of the blood supply, while hemorrhagic strokes are the ones which result from rupture of a blood vessel or an abnormal vascular structure. About 87% of strokes are caused by ischemia, and the remainder by hemorrhage. Some hemorrhages develop inside areas of ischemia ("hemorrhagic transformation"). It is unknown how many hemorrhages actually start as ischemic stroke. [2] Ischemic Main articles: Cerebral infarction and Brain ischemia In an ischemic stroke, blood supply to part of the brain is decreased, leading to dysfunction of the brain tissue in that area. There are four reasons why this might happen: 1. Thrombosis (obstruction of a blood vessel by a blood clot forming locally) 2. Embolism (obstruction due to an embolus from elsewhere in the body, see below), [2] 3. Systemic hypoperfusion (general decrease in blood supply, e.g., in shock)[9] 4. Venous thrombosis.[10] Stroke without an obvious explanation is termed "cryptogenic" (of unknown origin); this constitutes 30-40% of all ischemic strokes. [2][11] There are various classification systems for acute ischemic stroke. The Oxford Community Stroke Project classification (OCSP, also known as the Bamford or Oxford classification) relies primarily on the initial symptoms; based on the extent of the symptoms, the stroke episode is classified as total anterior circulation infarct (TACI), partial anterior circulation infarct (PACI), lacunar infarct (LACI) or posterior circulation infarct (POCI). These four entities predict the extent of the stroke, the area of the brain affected, the underlying cause, and the prognosis.[12][13] The TOAST (Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment) classification is based on clinical symptoms as well as results of further investigations; on this basis, a stroke is classified as being due to (1) thrombosis or embolism due to atherosclerosis of a large artery, (2) embolism of cardiac origin, (3) occlusion of a small blood vessel, (4) other determined cause, (5) undetermined cause (two possible causes, no cause identified, or incomplete investigation). [2][14] Hemorrhagic Main articles: Intracranial hemorrhage and intracerebral hemorrhage An intraparenchymal bleed (bottom arrow) with surrounding edema (top arrow) Intracranial hemorrhage is the accumulation of blood anywhere within the skull vault. A distinction is made between intra-axial hemorrhage (blood inside the brain) and extra-axial hemorrhage (blood inside the skull but outside the brain). Intra-axial hemorrhage is due to intraparenchymal hemorrhage or intraventricular hemorrhage (blood in the ventricular system). The main types of extra-axial hemorrhage are epidural hematoma (bleeding between the dura mater and the skull, subdural hematoma (in the subdural space) and subarachnoid hemorrhage (between the arachnoid mater and pia mater). Most of the hemorrhagic stroke syndromes have specific symptoms (e.g., headache, previous head injury). Signs and symptoms Stroke symptoms typically start suddenly, over seconds to minutes, and in most cases do not progress further. The symptoms depend on the area of the brain affected. The more extensive the area of brain affected, the more functions that are likely to be lost. Some forms of stroke can cause additional symptoms. For example, in intracranial hemorrhage, the affected area may compress other structures. Most forms of stroke are not associated with headache, apart from subarachnoid hemorrhage and cerebral venous thrombosis and occasionally intracerebral hemorrhage. Early recognition Various systems have been proposed to increase recognition of stroke by patients, relatives and emergency first responders. A systematic review , updating a previous systematic review from 1994, looked at a number of trials to evaluate how well different physical examination findings are able to predict the presence or absence of stroke. It was found that sudden-onset face weakness, arm drift (i.e., if a person, when asked to raise both arms, involuntarily lets one arm drift downward) and abnormal speech are the findings most likely to lead to the correct identification of a case of stroke (+ likelihood ratio of 5.5 when at least one of these is present). Similarly, when all three of these are absent, the likelihood of stroke is significantly decreased (– likelihood ratio of 0.39).[15] While these findings are not perfect for diagnosing stroke, the fact that they can be evaluated relatively rapidly and easily make them very valuable in the acute setting. Proposed systems include FAST (stroke) (face, arm, speech, and time),[16] as advocated by the Department of Health (United Kingdom) and The Stroke Association , the American Stroke Association (www.strokeassociation.org) , National Stroke Association (US www.stroke.org), the Los Angeles Prehospital Stroke Screen (LAPSS) [17] and the Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale (CPSS).[18] Use of these scales is recommended by professional guidelines.[19] For people referred to the emergency room , early recognition of stroke is deemed important as this can expedite diagnostic tests and treatments. A scoring system called ROSIER (recognition of stroke in the emergency room) is recommended for this purpose; it is based on features from the medical history and physical examination. [19][20] Subtypes If the area of the brain affected contains one of the three prominent central nervous system pathways — the spinothalamic tract, corticospinal tract, and dorsal column (medial lemniscus), symptoms may include: hemiplegia and muscle weakness of the face numbness reduction in sensory or vibratory sensation initial flaccidity (hypotonicity), replaced by spasticity (hypertonicity), hyperreflexia, and obligatory synergies. [21] In most cases, the symptoms affect only one side of the body ( unilateral). Depending on the part of the brain affected, the defect in the brain is usually on the opposite side of the body. However, since these pathways also travel in the spinal cord and any lesion there can also produce these symptoms, the presence of any one of these symptoms does not necessarily indicate a stroke. In addition to the above CNS pathways, the brainstem give rise to most of the twelve cranial nerves . A stroke affecting the brain stem and brain therefore can produce symptoms relating to deficits in these cranial nerves: altered smell, taste, hearing, or vision (total or partial) drooping of eyelid ( ptosis) and weakness of ocular muscles decreased reflexes: gag, swallow, pupil reactivity to light decreased sensation and muscle weakness of the face balance problems and nystagmus altered breathing and heart rate weakness in sternocleidomastoid muscle with inability to turn head to one side weakness in tongue (inability to protrude and/ or move from side to side) If the cerebral cortex is involved, the CNS pathways can again be affected, but also can produce the following symptoms: aphasia (difficulty with verbal expression, auditory comprehension, reading and/or writing Broca's or Wernicke's area typically involved) dysarthria (motor speech disorder resulting from neurological injury) apraxia (altered voluntary movements) visual field defect memory deficits (involvement of temporal lobe) hemineglect (involvement of parietal lobe) disorganized thinking, confusion, hypersexual gestures (with involvement of frontal lobe) anosognosia (persistent denial of the existence of a, usually stroke-related, deficit) If the cerebellum is involved, the patient may have the following: trouble walking altered movement coordination vertigo and or disequilibrium Associated symptoms Loss of consciousness, headache, and vomiting usually occurs more often in hemorrhagic stroke than in thrombosis because of the increased intracranial pressure from the leaking blood compressing the brain. If symptoms are maximal at onset, the cause is more likely to be a subarachnoid hemorrhage or an embolic stroke.