Re: Nurse's Mini Stroke Came With No Warning - If It Happens To You, Act Quickly Originally Posted by lutumba Malongo 
Let talk about stroke, The Stroke is an interruption of the blood supply to any part of the brain. There are two kind of the stroke. First, Ischemic strokes occur as a result of an obstruction within a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain. The underlying condition for this type of obstruction is the development of fatty deposits lining the vessel walls. And the second is hemorrhagic (the blood vesseaux causing bleeding in the brain. The blood is going other brain tissue and taking place in the skull and increase cranial pressure in this part of the brain. Understand stroke is a continuumprocess developing to sclerosis, to TIA, and to acute TIA ischemia stroke. Wherever, that patient will be temporally better, all signs or symptoms of stroke disappear you want to see the patient one side weakness go away in the next fifteen minutes no longer has side weakness but doesn’t means the problem go away, your pt has permanent damage to the brain and symptoms go away because the other part of the brain take over the function for the part is involve. If not it’ll be a permanent stroke. That why you call that Mini stroke.
The accepted def of TIA (transient ischaemic attack) is sudden onset of focal neurology, caused by an interuption in the circulation to the brain (ie vascular origin). The symptoms
completely resolve within 24 hours.
However, most Stroke physicians will tell you that if the symptoms haven't completely resolved within 15 mins then there will probably be some scarring of the brain (on MRI) due to the period of
temporary ischaemia. However, if the symptoms completely resolved within the 24hr time frame then they will probably still call it a TIA.
The neurological symptoms of a TIA don't resolve because the other parts of the brain take over the function, but because the blood supply is restored.In a stroke the blood supply isn't restored, unless thrombolysis is given with good effect.
So, as we never know if the focal neurology is going to completely resolve, all symptoms should be treated as an emergency.It is a stroke until proven otherwise.
Mini-Stroke is not an accepted medical diagnosis.
Strokes vary in severity hugely, but just because someone is left with minimal disability, doesn't mean it was a TIA.It is still as stroke.
Stroke is obviously more common in elderly people, because they have the highest incidence of the common risk factors, but in young people with none of these common risk factors you would look for things like cardiac causes (PFO,AF etc), vasculitis and thrombophylias. Also need to check that this is definitely a stroke and not a stroke mimic , so history is particularly important.
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