Strokes |
||
|
|
||
|
A stroke occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is reduced or completely cut off. This can be caused by a blood clot or by hemorrhage—bleeding from an artery in the brain. Medical terms used for various kinds of strokes are cerebral vascular occlusion, cerebral thrombosis, cerebral embolism, and cerebral hemorrhage. When the nerve cells of a part of the brain are deprived of their blood supply, the part of the body controlled by these nerve centers cannot function normally. The result may be weakness or paralysis, difficulty in speaking, or loss of memory. Some patients recover quickly, and can resume their normal activities. Others may suffer such serious damage that even a partial recovery will take a long time. Immediate treatment with proper exercises and other forms of therapy can do much toward helping a patient regain the use of muscles and speech. If a stroke is brought on by a narrowed blood vessel or, in some instances, a blood clot, the doctor may use anti-coagulant drugs to prevent another stroke. When neck arteries leading to the brain are involved, a surgical operation can sometimes remove the obstruction to circulation. Rehabilitation for stroke requires the cooperation of the doctor, the patient, and the family. The patient's own will to avoid invalidism and to become independent is especially important. STROKE HAS COME TO MEAN a variety of things, but in general the term refers to sudden brain damage caused by a hemorrhage of a blood vessel in the brain, a thrombosis or clot formed by hardening of the vessel walls, or an embolus, a clot that gets into the blood stream from another diseased or injured part and blocks a brain artery. The brain area affected stops functioning and causes the symptoms related to this loss of function. Stroke affects not only older people; a high percentage of the death and disability it causes hits people between the ages of 30 and 64. In ancient times, victims of a stroke were thought to have been "struck down by God." Today, one eminent scientist says that the affliction is often only a stroke of bad luck. If treated successfully during the acute stage, the patient may live a useful life for many years. Perhaps the term stroke persists because the illness it causes is so dramatic in its abruptness. Estimates are that more than 5,800,000 people in the United States have been crippled by strokes caused by the blood vessels supplying the brain alone. Strokes take more than 500,000 lives a year. Hardening of the arteries in the brain which is related to stroke, is the second leading cause of first admissions to state mental hospitals. The seriousness of brain damage from strokes can be realized by comparing strokes in the brain with those in other parts of the body. For example, if a small clot lodges in the lung, the lung is not severely handicapped because all its parts perform the same function and can enlarge if necessary to make up for the injured portion. In the brain, a small closure in an artery that relates to such a specialized function as speech or movement of limbs can destroy that particular function. Victims of heart attacks often survive because auxiliary blood vessels quickly appear to send life-giving blood to the injured part. However, extensive research has been able to show little, if any, recovery capacity of the brain, which is our most: delicate and our most prized possession. |
||