Page 19 - August 2015 Volume 9, Number 8

Flying
When a stroke occurs, the symptoms will vary depending on the part of the brain that is affected. If, for example, the part of the brain that controls movement is deprived of its blood supply, the person will have difficulty moving his extremities on the side opposite of the injured side of the brain. If the speech center of the brain is afflicted, the person will be unable to speak properly and may slur words or otherwise have problems speaking. The most common symptoms are sudden numbness or weakness, most often involving only one side of the body, trouble speaking, mental confusion, sudden difficulty seeing, dizziness, loss of balance and headache. If the stroke involves a major vessel that supplies a large part of the brain, it can result in rapid loss of consciousness and death. The potential symptoms are endless and significant incapacitation can occur quite rapidly. Anyone who thinks they might be having a stroke should get to a medical facility immediately; prompt intervention can limit long-term
neurologic impairment.
There is also a condition called a TIA, or Transient Ischemic Attack. In this condition, also referred to as a “mini stroke,” there is a temporary interruption of blood flow from spasm, or possibly from a small clot that frees itself. The symptoms are similar to a stroke, but only last for a short period of time. Persons who have had TIAs are at significantly greater risk of a full blown stroke than the population at large.
Illustrations showing the two major types of stroke – ischemic and hemorrhagic.
on the
Brain
by Dr. Jerrold Seckler
In a recent article, I discussed myocardial infarction, a condition that occurs when the blood flow in one or more of the coronary arteries is blocked. A similar situation can occur with the arteries that supply the brain as well. When a portion of the brain is deprived of its blood supply, the person suffers a stroke.
The brain has a complex circulation, the anatomy of which is beyond the scope of this article, but if any of the arteries supplying the brain are cut off, the person will experience some sort of neurologic symptom that will depend on the specific part of the brain that is deprived of oxygen.
There are two major types of stroke – ischemic and hemorrhagic. Ischemic strokes result from an interruption of blood flow to the brain and are subdivided into two types – thrombotic (from a clot that forms in the vessel itself, usually on an atherosclerotic plaque) or embolic, where a clot that forms elsewhere in the body (usually the heart) breaks off and travels to the brain where it plugs an artery thereby causing the brain tissue supplied by that artery to die. Hemorrhagic strokes occur when a vessel in the brain ruptures (breaks) and allows blood
to enter into the brain tissue or the area above the brain, between the brain and the skull. In this
case, the brain tissue is compressed
and little, if any, blood flows
past the point of vessel rupture to whatever brain tissue that particular vessel supplied.
Strokes have been
decreasing in frequency
over the years, but there
are still about 800,000
strokes yearly in the United
States. About 35 percent of strokes occur
in persons under 65, and they are the fourth most common cause of death in the United States.
18 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
SEPTEMBER 2015