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Stroke
What is a Stroke?
A stroke occurs either when the blood supply to part of the brain is blocked, called ischemic, or when a blood vessel in or around the brain bursts, called hemorrhagic, spilling blood into the spaces surrounding brain cells. Brain cells die when they no longer receive oxygen and nutrients from the blood or there is sudden bleeding into or around the brain. A stroke is also sometimes called a brain attack.
Symptoms of a Stroke
The symptoms of a stroke include:
- Sudden numbness or weakness, especially on one side of the body
- Sudden confusion or trouble speaking or understanding speech
- Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
- Sudden trouble with walking, dizziness, or loss of balance or coordination
- Sudden severe headache with no known cause
Prognosis of Stroke
Although stroke is a disease of the brain, it can affect the entire body. A common disability that results from stroke is complete paralysis on one side of the body, called hemiplegia. A related disability that is not as debilitating as paralysis is one-sided weakness or hemiparesis. Stroke may cause problems with thinking, awareness, attention, learning, judgment, and memory. Stroke survivors often have problems understanding or forming speech. A stroke can lead to emotional problems. Stroke patients may have difficulty controlling their emotions or may express inappropriate emotions. Many stroke patients experience depression. Stroke survivors may also have numbness or strange sensations. The pain is often worse in the hands and feet and is made worse by movement and temperature changes, especially cold temperatures.
Recurrent stroke is frequent. About 25 percent of people who recover from their first stroke will have another stroke within 5 years.
Research Being Done
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) conducts stroke research and clinical trials at its laboratories and clinics at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and through grants to major medical institutions across the country. Currently, NINDS researchers are studying the mechanisms of stroke risk factors and the process of brain damage that results from stroke. Basic research has also focused on the genetics of stroke and stroke risk factors. Scientists are working to develop new and better ways to help the brain repair itself to restore important functions. New advances in imaging and rehabilitation have shown that the brain can compensate for function lost as a result of stroke.
Organizations
American Stroke Association: A Division of American Heart Association
7272 Greenville Avenue
Dallas, TX
www.strokeassociation.org
Tel: 4STROKE
Fax:
Brain Aneurysm Foundation
612 East Broadway
South Boston, MA 02127
www.bafound.org
Tel: 888-BRAIN02
Brain Attack Coalition
31 Center Drive
Room 8A07
Bethesda, MD
www.stroke-site.org
Tel:
Fax:
National Stroke Association
9707 East Easter Lane
Suite B
Centennial, CO
www.stroke.org
Tel: 800-STROKES
Fax:
Stroke Clubs International
805 12th Street
Galveston, TX 77550
Tel:
National Aphasia Association
350 Seventh Ave.
Suite 902
New York, NY 10001
www.aphasia.org
Tel: 804NAA (4622)
Fax:
Children's Hemiplegia and Stroke Assocn. (CHASA)
4101 West Green Oaks Blvd., Ste. 305
PMB 149
Arlington, TX 76016
www.hemi-kids.org
Tel:
Hazel K. Goddess Fund for Stroke Research in Women
785 Park Avenue
New York, NY
www.thegoddessfund.org
Tel:
Fax:
Heart Rhythm Foundation
1400 K Street, NW
Suite 500
Washington, DC 20005
www.heartrhythmfoundation.org
Tel:
Fax:
American Health Assistance Foundation
22512 Gateway Center Drive
Clarksburg, MD 20871
www.ahaf.org
Tel: 80AHAF (2423)
Fax:
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References:
Office of Communications and Public Liaison
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
National Institutes of Health
February 2008
www.ninds.nih.gov
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