Stroke

Stroke affects the blood vessels that supply blood to the brain. It occurs when the blood vessel bursts or is blocked by a blood clot or some mass, which brings oxygen and nutrients to the brain. Hence part of the brain doesn't get the nutrients and blood supply which it needs. The nerve cells require oxygen and blood which it is deprived of due to the burst or blockage and they die within minutes. And when they die the part of the body which they control can't work either. The effects of strokes are permanent because the dead cells can't be replaced.

Stroke also called as brain attack (or cerebrovascular accident (CVA)) also causes rapid developing loss of brain function which is caused by thrombosis, embolism, or hemorrhage. Stroke can cause death and permanent neurological damage if not properly diagnosed and treated. It is one of the leading causes of death and also adult disability. It is predicted that stroke will become the leading cause of death in most of the countries.

Due to the interruption in the blood supply results in depletion of oxygen and glucose in the glucose in the affected area which reduces neuronal function, and also initiates an ischemic cascade causing neurons to die or be seriously damaged, further impairing the brain function.

The stroke occurs due to advanced age, hypertension (high blood pressure), previous stroke, and high cholesterol, migraine with aura, cigarette smoking, diabetes mellitus, atrial fibrillation and thrombophilia, blood pressure is the biggest risk factor of stroke the other risk factors, such as cigarette smoking cessation and treatment of atrial fibrillation with anticoagulant drugs, are important.

Brain attack is the new term which makes an analogy with heart attack because in both conditions, an interruption of blood supply causes death of tissue which is life threatening. There are two types of strokes the ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. Ischemic stroke is caused by the blockage of a blood vessel while hemorrhagic stroke is caused by bleeding.

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