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What is Brain stroke?

Brain stroke is a serious condition that crops up when a blood vessel in the brain erupts. In some cases, there may be blockage in the brain nerves too. In either of the cases, the outcome will be a serious disability or death. If a proper treatment is not given then

Symptoms

The signs of a brain stroke are:

Difficulty in speaking and understanding
Numbness or Paralysis of face, arm and leg
Dizziness and imbalance in walking
Decreased vision in one or both eyes
Difficulty in swallowing
Headache, Drowsiness

Causes

The principal cause of brain stroke is that the brain does not receive sufficient oxygen or nutrients causing brain cells to perish. To go more specifically, the stroke may stem from an ischemic stroke (blocked artery) or hemorrhagic stroke (leaking out of a blood vessel.

Risk Factors and Complications

The following form a part of risk factors of brain stroke announced by the best neurosurgeon in hyderabad.

Gender: Stroke occurs in both adolescence and childhood.
Age: No specific age group is immune to the risk of brain factor as all people of all ages are affected by brain stroke.
Lifestyle / Medical risk factors: Obesity, Physical inactivity, Binge drinking, Smoking, High cholesterol, Cardiovascular diseases.
Race African-Americans have a higher risk of stroke than do people of other races.
Family history of stroke : Family history of diabetes or high blood pressure

Brain stroke has an adverse impact on the lives of people in several ways causing medical complications such as:

Weakened memory
Depression
Paralysis to hands/legs
High cholesterol in blood
Profuse loss of blood
Inability to check emotional feelings

Tests and Diagnosis

When an individual walks in with stroke symptoms, the first step should be to establish the type of stroke suffered by the patient. At the outset, the doctor will enquire with the patient’s symptoms and past medical history. To confirm the signs of clotting, the patient may be put to physical tests like the blood pressure, in addition to listening to the carotid arteries in the neck and checking the blood vessels at the rear side of the eyes. To know about the precise type of stroke, a range of diagnostic tests are done:

Blood Test: Blood test is conducted to ascertain how fast the patient’s blood clots, whether the patient suffers from any infection and the extent of levels of chemicals within blood.
CT scan: A range of X-rays can exhibit strokes, hemorrhages and tumors inside the brain.
Cerebral angiogram: Dyes are sent into the brain’s blood vessels so as to get a comprehensive view of the brain and neck arteries.

Echocardiogram: An in-depth image of the heart is taken to detect any sources of clots that could have moved to the brain to trigger a stroke.
Carotid ultrasound: An ultrasound scan will not only reveal the blood flow of the carotid arteries but will check whether there are any plaques exist in the brain.
MRI scan: Using a combination of magnets and radio waves, pictures related to the organs and structures in the body are created to identify damage to brain cells or changes in brain tissues.

Treatment:

Ischemic stroke: The treatment is centered on reviving sufficient flow of blood to the brain. The treatment commences with administering drugs to the patient to facilitate breaking down the clots and stop further blocks from occurring.

Intravenous injection of tissue plasminogen activator (TPA). Some people can benefit from an injection of a recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (TPA), also called alteplase. An injection of TPA is usually given through a vein in the arm. This potent clot-busting drug needs to be given within 3 to 4.5 hours after stroke symptoms begin if it’s given in the vein.

TPA restores blood flow by dissolving the blood clot causing your stroke, and it may help people who have had strokes recover more fully. Your doctor will consider certain risks, such as potential bleeding in the brain, to determine if TPA is appropriate for you.

Mechanical thrombectomy is indicated for patients with acute ischaemic stroke due to a large artery occlusion in the anterior circulation who can be treated in 24 hours of the time last known to be well, regardless of whether they receive TPA for the same ischemic stroke. It includes the use of catheters to directly deliver (during angiography) a clot-disrupting or a retrieval device to a thromboembolus that is occluding a cerebral artery.