Comprehensive Report on Stroke: Causes, Diagnosis, and Treatment

This report provides a comprehensive overview of stroke, a significant public health concern. It begins by defining stroke and differentiating between its various types, including hemorrhagic, ischemic, and transient ischemic attack (TIA). The report then delves into the causes of stroke, such as diabetes, smoking, obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, and family history. It outlines the symptoms of stroke, including sudden walking problems, loss of balance, severe headaches, speech difficulties, blurred vision, and numbness. The diagnosis section covers blood tests, electrocardiograms (ECG), and brain scans (CT and MRI) used to identify stroke. The report concludes by detailing treatment and prevention methods, including surgery, medications (Alteplase, Aspirin), exercises, and rehabilitation strategies. The report references several studies and websites to support its findings, providing a well-rounded understanding of stroke management.

THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF STROKE PATIENTS

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Types of Stroke..........................................................................................................................3
Causes of Stroke.........................................................................................................................3
Symptoms of Stroke...................................................................................................................4
Diagnosis....................................................................................................................................5
Treatment and Prevention of Stroke..........................................................................................6

Introduction
This study is based on the causes of Stroke among the individuals and the reasons that lead to
the occurrence of stroke, in the general lifestyle. Stroke is generally referred to as the
hindrance in the supply of blood to the brain. In this assignment, the different caused of
strokes and their pathophysiology has been discussed with respect to the human beings.
Statistics prevailing in the UK suggests that Strokes are the third largest causes of annual
deaths in the UK. These figures reveal the importance of the prevention of the factors that
leads to the strokes in the human beings. It has been observed that the patients’ affected with
strokes dis prevention becomes important.
Types of Stroke
 Haemorrhagic Stroke is a severe form of stroke, which is accompanied by the
eventual bleeding in the brain. The major predisposing factor for this consequence is
the mechanism of bursting of the blood vessels that carries the blood to the brain
(www.nhs.uk, 2016).
 Ischaemic Stroke is another form of stroke that is observed when the passage of the
blood to the brain cells is blocked for a considerable period of time. These methods
of blockage may be experienced due to a number of factors, including the deposition
of excessive fat on the inner lining of the blood vessels and the capillaries. The other
factor that leads to the blockage may be due to the blood clot, which hinders the
normal blood flow to the brain (Walter et al., 2012, p.402).
 Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA) is noted when the blood supply to the brain is
hindered for a short period of time. It is referred to as “Mini-stroke” (www.nhs.uk,
2016).

Causes of Stroke
Figure 1: Causes of Stroke
(Source: Walter et al., 2012, p.401)
 The higher accumulation of fats in the inner lining of the blood capillaries may
hinder the normal flow of blood to the brain and thus strokes may be evident.
 Having a family history of stroke or heart diseases exposes the individuals to acquire
the strokes in the later part of their life.
A number of causes have been
sourced to cause the strokes among
the individuals. These factors
include the habits of excessive
smoking, in which the nicotine level
in the blood may be a factor.
Diabetes is one of the important
predisposing factors that may lead to
stroke among the individuals.
Drinking excessive alcohol and
involving in the drug addiction is
one of the important reasons for the
acquiring of stroke among the
individuals.
Having excessive weight, obesity
and atherosclerosis are one of the
important reasons for the strokes
among the individuals
(www.bupa.co.uk, 2016).

 Haemophilia and abnormal heartbeat may be one of the reasons for the causes of
strokes among the human beings (www.stroke.org.uk, 2016).
Symptoms of Stroke
The individuals experience a sudden problem in walking and usually tend to sit
down. Loss of balance is experienced, and has been accompanied by dizziness.
A severe form headache may be experienced suddenly and therefore the cognitive
decision-making ability of the patients disappears momentarily.
This is followed by the slurring of speech and loss of proper understanding and
recognition power of the patients.
Blurred vision is experienced suddenly and the effect is primarily observed in a
single eye or in both the eyes of the patient.
A severe form of numbness is experienced by the patients and this is induced by the
loss of function in the legs and arms of the patient, particularly in one part of the
body (Erbel et al., 2014, p.2873).
Figure 2: Symptoms of Stroke
(Source: Erbel et al., 2014, p.2876)

Diagnosis
Strokes may be diagnosed earlier by implementing a number of tests in the hospital. These
tests provide the useful information to the patients about the cause of the strokes among them.
 Blood Tests may be undertaken by the patient, to analyse the levels of cholesterol
and the sugar levels in the blood of the patients. If the cholesterol levels of the
patient are high, strokes may be evident on account of Atherosclerosis, or the
blockage of the blood vessels due to the accumulation of cholesterol (Ragoschke-
Schumm et al., 2015, p.254).
 Electrocardiogram (ECG) may be implemented by the patients to ensure the level of
the rhythm of the heartbeat. It further assists the patients to measure their individual
electrical impulses perceived in the heart.
 The Brain Scan may have a positive influence on the health of the individuals. It
stares the present condition of the heart of the patient, and the cause of the stroke in
the patient may be determined. It may determine whether the stroke had been evident
due to blockage or bleeding. The brain scans include the CT scan and MRI, and
these results clearly depict the cause of the strokes in the patients (www.bupa.co.uk,
2016).
Figure 3: ECG Interpretation
(Source: Brosnan et al., 2015, p.134)

Treatment and Prevention of Stroke
Surgery
The surgery may involve the manual removal of fats from the inner lining of the blood
vessels and arteries. This is achieved after the removal of the fat deposits from the Carotid
artery that is involved in the transport of blood top the brain. Relieving the excessive brain
swelling and draining the excess blood out from the brain may also be employed in the
surgery. This is a costly and an efficient method to prevent the strokes (www.stroke.org.uk,
2016).
Medicines
Alteplase may be advised to the patients that had the Ischaemic stroke, as this medicine
relieves the blood clot in the carotid artery. Aspirin may be further injected into the patients
to prevent the future consequences of blood clots. The medicines must be oriented in such a
way that they lower the higher blood pressure and lowers the excessive levels of fats or
cholesterol in the blood (Persson et al., 2014, p.2816).
Exercises
Frequent and regular physical exercises may lead to the better flow of blood throughout
the body, lower the higher sugar level in the body and at the same time, restores the normal
pressure of the blood in the body of the individual patients. These are the best possible
sources of keeping healthy and preventing the occurrences of stroke (www.stroke.org.uk,
2016).
Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation may be provided to the patients that provide the knowledge to the individuals
to tackle the problems of stroke and the measures that may be adopted by the individuals to
prevent the occurrences of stroke, by a special management known as the “Stroke
Rehabilitation Management”. The individuals affected with stroke may implement this
measure to prevent them from acquiring future strokes (Holmstedt et al., 2013, p.1112).

References
Brosnan, M., La Gerche, A., Kumar, S., Lo, W., Kalman, J. and Prior, D., (2015). Modest
agreement in ECG interpretation limits the application of ECG screening in young
athletes. Heart Rhythm, 12(1), pp.130-136.
Erbel, R., Aboyans, V., Boileau, C., Bossone, E., Di Bartolomeo, R., Eggebrecht, H.,
Evangelista, A., Falk, V., Frank, H., Gaemperli, O. and Grabenwöger, M., (2014). 2014 ESC
Guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of aortic diseases. European heart journal, 35(41),
pp.2873-2926.
Holmstedt, C.A., Turan, T.N. and Chimowitz, M.I., (2013). Atherosclerotic intracranial
arterial stenosis: risk factors, diagnosis, and treatment. The Lancet Neurology, 12(11),
pp.1106-1114.
Persson, M., Fhager, A., Trefná, H.D., Yu, Y., McKelvey, T., Pegenius, G., Karlsson, J.E.
and Elam, M., (2014). Microwave-based stroke diagnosis making global prehospital
thrombolytic treatment possible. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 61(11),
pp.2806-2817.
Ragoschke-Schumm, A., Yilmaz, U., Kostopoulos, P., Lesmeister, M., Manitz, M., Walter,
S., Helwig, S., Schwindling, L., Fousse, M., Haass, A. and Garner, D., (2015). ‘Stroke
Room': Diagnosis and Treatment at a Single Location for Rapid Intraarterial Stroke
Treatment. Cerebrovascular Diseases, 40(5-6), pp.251-257.
Walter, S., Kostopoulos, P., Haass, A., Keller, I., Lesmeister, M., Schlechtriemen, T., Roth,
C., Papanagiotou, P., Grunwald, I., Schumacher, H. and Helwig, S., (2012). Diagnosis and
treatment of patients with stroke in a mobile stroke unit versus in hospital: a randomised
controlled trial. The Lancet Neurology, 11(5), pp.397-404.
www.bupa.co.uk (2016) Stroke Available at:
http://www.bupa.co.uk/health-information/directory/s/stroke [Accessed on 28 Nov 2016]
www.nhs.uk (2016) Symptoms and signs of stroke Available at:
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Stroke/Pages/Symptoms.aspx [Accessed on 28 Nov 2016]
www.stroke.org.uk (2016) What is a stroke? Available at: https://www.stroke.org.uk/what-
stroke/what-stroke [Accessed on 28 Nov 2016]