Stroke/Overview



 Overview of Stroke 

Stroke is a term which broadly defines a cerebrovascular brain injury, the occlusion of normal circulation to a part of the brain, either caused by ischemic vessels or hemorrhagic bleeding.

The ischemic stroke patient has the potential to be effectively treated with a clot-dissolving drug; tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). Whether to treat with tPA is largely dependent on having a definite time when the patient was last in their ‘normal’ state and that the time elapsed since symptom onset was no longer than 3 hours.

However, most strokes result in serious, long term disability and exorbitant health care costs regardless of medical interventions.

 Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) 

A TIA is not merely a small stroke, but a temporary disruption of the blood flow to the brain just as that which occurs during a stroke. The difference is that the cause of the occlusion of blood flow is temporary, such as a clot forming and then dissolving on its own. Symptoms usually last up to 24 hours, but most often only continue for 2 to 3 hours. A TIA is a warning sign that a true stroke may occur in the future should something not be done to prevent it.

Patient education is one of the most important aspects of nursing care for TIA patients.

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