Stroke & its Types Essay Sample

Stroke also called “cerebrovascular accidents are the leading cause of disability and the third cause of death in the United States” (McCance & Huether 2015). It is a neurological condition characterized by focal neurologic deficits lasting more than 24 hours if it is less than 24 hours it is diagnosed as a transient ischemic attack.Stroke & its Types Essay Sample

There are two main types of stroke which are an ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Ischemic stroke arises as a result of an occlusion of a blood vessel to the brain. It could be classified as either thrombotic or embolic. Thrombotic stroke “arise from arterial occlusion caused by thrombi formation in arteries supplying the brain or intracranial vessels” (McCance & Huether, 2015. p.389). It can be caused most often by atherosclerosis or inflammatory disease of the arteries; other causes could include hyper-coagulation, dehydration, and others (McCance & Huether 2015). In this situation, atherosclerotic plaques form at branches of the arteries that supply the brain. Over the years the plaques grow bigger and cause stenosis of the arteries. Therefore as blood tries to move through these stenosed arteries, the plaques peel off leaving an ulcer, platelets. Then, fibrin adheres to these areas forming a clot/thrombus, which then gradually and eventually occludes the artery preventing blood supply to the region of the brain supplied by the occluded artery. An Embolic stroke involves “fragments that break from a thrombus formed outside the brain or in the heart” (McCance & Huether 2015. p.389) and travels up to obstruct the tiny brain vessels.Stroke & its Types Essay Sample Hemorrhagic stroke, on the other hand, arises as a result of hemorrhage into the brain. It is caused mainly by hypertension, ruptured aneurysms or malformations (McCance & Huether 2015). Bleeding into the brain displaces and compresses adjacent brain tissue leading to ischemia and loss of neurologic function. Clinical presentation of both hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke differ slightly, a patient with hemorrhagic stroke especially if it is subarachnoid could complain that he or she has the ‘worst headache of his or her life’ and depending on the amount of bleeding the patient could go straight into a coma. Other symptoms of hemiplegia, aphasia, hemiparesis, and others are more commonly associated with ischemic stroke. Treatment of ischemic stroke is by giving anticoagulant or antiplatelet therapy, that inhibits platelet aggregation thereby preventing the formation of thrombus, hemorrhagic stroke is focused on stopping the bleeding, this could be done by drainage of the blood or drugs to reduce hypertension. In recent researches, the use of endovascular thrombectomy within 6-16 hours have reduced disability of stroke sufferers.

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