Recurring Transient Ischemic Attack is a Warning Signal of an Impending Stroke
In ischemia, tissues do not get enough oxygen because blood flow through vessels that supply those tissues is impeded.
Transient ischemic attack in the brain resembles a stroke due to cerebral embolism, but a transient ischemic attack differs in that the symptoms last for only a short time.
A sudden onset of weakness and numbness down one side of the body, for example, may last a few minutes or hours and then disappear, where as the symptoms of a stroke last for more than 24 hours.
It is important to understand this difference.
Transient ischemic attacks are often signals of an impending stroke.
Therefore, they should be treated to attempt to avoid a stroke that may occur later and cause more serious damage.
The narrowing or obstruction of arteries to the brain can be caused by several factors.
Most often, however, an ischemic attack occurs because a small clot or a piece of plaque breaks away from the wall of an artery or heart valve and is carried into the brain.
As the fragment of clot or plaque (called an embolus) passes through blood vessels in the brain, it temporarily impedes the flow to an area of brain tissue, and causes stroke like symptoms.
The exact symptoms will vary, depending primarily on the portion of the brain affected.
Circulation may soon be restored, however, and the temporarily deprived tissues soon recover.
The block is therefore transient, or short lived.
But the problem is likely to recur.
The symptoms are like those of a stroke, but they do not last long.
They may include headaches, dizziness, tingling, numbness, blurred or double vision, confusion, or loss of the use of part of one side of the body.
If the embolus makes its way into an artery that supplies an eye, there may be temporary blindness in that eye.
Recurring transient ischemic attacks often warn of an impending stroke.
Nearly half of those who have transient ischemic attacks are apt to have a stroke within five years after they have their first attack.
If you have had stroke like symptoms or sudden loss of vision in one eye, do not delay in consulting your physician, who may, after examining you, refer you to a neurologist.
The first diagnostic step will be to try to identify the source of a possible embolus.
A likely source of emboli is one of the two carotid arteries in your neck.
To search for signs of narrowing of the carotid arteries, your physician may listen with a stethoscope to various places in your neck.
The stethoscope may also be placed on your chest to pick up any sounds of an abnormal heart valve or irregularity in heartbeat rhythm.
You may then need to have an electrocardiogram (ECG), a chest X-ray, other scanning tests such as ultrasound of the carotid arteries, and special X-rays, called arteriograms, of those blood vessels that may be the source of the problem.
The purpose of treatment is to try to prevent a stroke.
What preventive measures are used depend mainly on your age and general state of health.
Medical treatment may consist simply of a blood thinner such as Aspirin to reduce the likelihood of blood clot formation.
Lifestyle modification to control risk factors will be advised.
If the precise location of the narrowing of an artery has been identified, the atheroma, or fatty deposit causing the narrowing, may be removed by a surgery called carotid endartrectomy to improve the blood flow.
Transient ischemic attack in the brain resembles a stroke due to cerebral embolism, but a transient ischemic attack differs in that the symptoms last for only a short time.
A sudden onset of weakness and numbness down one side of the body, for example, may last a few minutes or hours and then disappear, where as the symptoms of a stroke last for more than 24 hours.
It is important to understand this difference.
Transient ischemic attacks are often signals of an impending stroke.
Therefore, they should be treated to attempt to avoid a stroke that may occur later and cause more serious damage.
The narrowing or obstruction of arteries to the brain can be caused by several factors.
Most often, however, an ischemic attack occurs because a small clot or a piece of plaque breaks away from the wall of an artery or heart valve and is carried into the brain.
As the fragment of clot or plaque (called an embolus) passes through blood vessels in the brain, it temporarily impedes the flow to an area of brain tissue, and causes stroke like symptoms.
The exact symptoms will vary, depending primarily on the portion of the brain affected.
Circulation may soon be restored, however, and the temporarily deprived tissues soon recover.
The block is therefore transient, or short lived.
But the problem is likely to recur.
The symptoms are like those of a stroke, but they do not last long.
They may include headaches, dizziness, tingling, numbness, blurred or double vision, confusion, or loss of the use of part of one side of the body.
If the embolus makes its way into an artery that supplies an eye, there may be temporary blindness in that eye.
Recurring transient ischemic attacks often warn of an impending stroke.
Nearly half of those who have transient ischemic attacks are apt to have a stroke within five years after they have their first attack.
If you have had stroke like symptoms or sudden loss of vision in one eye, do not delay in consulting your physician, who may, after examining you, refer you to a neurologist.
The first diagnostic step will be to try to identify the source of a possible embolus.
A likely source of emboli is one of the two carotid arteries in your neck.
To search for signs of narrowing of the carotid arteries, your physician may listen with a stethoscope to various places in your neck.
The stethoscope may also be placed on your chest to pick up any sounds of an abnormal heart valve or irregularity in heartbeat rhythm.
You may then need to have an electrocardiogram (ECG), a chest X-ray, other scanning tests such as ultrasound of the carotid arteries, and special X-rays, called arteriograms, of those blood vessels that may be the source of the problem.
The purpose of treatment is to try to prevent a stroke.
What preventive measures are used depend mainly on your age and general state of health.
Medical treatment may consist simply of a blood thinner such as Aspirin to reduce the likelihood of blood clot formation.
Lifestyle modification to control risk factors will be advised.
If the precise location of the narrowing of an artery has been identified, the atheroma, or fatty deposit causing the narrowing, may be removed by a surgery called carotid endartrectomy to improve the blood flow.
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