If your brain cells don't have a supply of blood, they won't get enough food and oxygen. If they go without food and oxygen for too long, brain cells can die. That's why some doctors call a stroke a brain attack.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Easton JD, Albers GW, Caplan LR, et al.
Discussion: Reconsideration of TIA terminology and definitions.
Neurology. 2004; 62 (supplement 1): S29-S34.

 

 

 

 

 

¹

Strokes affect people in different ways. If you have a stroke you may not be able to move one side of your body, or you may have difficulty speaking or swallowing. You may black out (lose consciousness) for a while. Or your symptoms may be mild: you may feel dizzy and have blurred vision for a few minutes. You should get medical help immediately, even if you think your symptoms are not very serious.

In most people who have a stroke, the blood supply to their brain is blocked by a

 

 

 

 

 

blood clot
A blood clot forms when your blood clumps together. Sometimes this happens to stop you from bleeding if you've had an injury. But it can also happen on the inside of your blood vessels, even when you haven't had an injury. A blood clot inside of a blood vessel is called a thrombus.

 

 

 

 

 

blood clot. But a stroke can also happen when a blood vessel in the brain bursts.

If you or someone close to you has just had a stroke, you will probably be shocked and worried about the future. Many people worry that a stroke will leave them disabled and they will have to depend on others to care for them. This may be true for some people, but it's certainly not true for everyone. With the right treatment and follow-up care, it's possible to limit the effects of a stroke. If you stick with your treatment, you can live for many years after a stroke.

Strokes tend to happen without warning. They can happen at any age, although they are more common in older people.

Many of the symptoms of a stroke make more sense once you understand how your brain works, how blood is supplied to your brain and what happens when things go wrong. It will also make it easier to understand how treatment can help control the damage a stroke causes to your body and what you can do to prevent another stroke.

Your brain enables you to think, and to control the movements of your body. For example, your brain allows you to move your arm to pick up your coffee. It also controls lots of the things that you do without thinking. For example, it automatically makes sure you keep breathing and your heart keeps beating. Different parts of your brain are in control of breathing, moving and talking.

Your brain is connected to the rest of your body by the spinal cord. This is a tube of fibers that runs down your back from your brain. Your spinal cord is about the width of a finger, and it sits inside the bones that make up your spine. These bones protect your spinal cord against injury.

Nerves from your spinal cord reach every part of your body. When you touch something with your fingers, a signal travels along the nerves to your spinal cord and up to your brain.

There are three main parts to the brain:

The cerebrum is what most people think of when you mention the brain. It sits just under your skull and is the largest part of your brain. It is split into two by a deep groove. The two sides of the cerebrum, called the right and left cerebral hemispheres, communicate with each other.

The brainstem sits at the bottom of the brain. It connects the brain to the spinal cord.

The cerebellum sits between the cerebrum and the brainstem.

Each part of the brain has its own function, although the different parts also work together.

To work, your brain needs a constant supply of oxygen and food. These are carried by your blood. Blood reaches your brain through blood vessels called arteries. If the flow of blood to your brain is interrupted, you have a stroke. Doctors sometimes name strokes after the blood vessel that has had its blood flow interrupted. You don't have to know the names of arteries, but we explain a few of them here.

The blood flows to your brain along two separate paths: the front path goes to the cerebral hemispheres and the back path goes to the cerebellum and brainstem.

The front path is called the anterior circulation. The back path is called the posterior circulation.

The blood flow to the front of the brain comes from the left and right

 

 

 

 

 

carotid arteries
Carotid arteries are large blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to the front of your brain. The carotid arteries travel through your neck on the way to your head. You can feel the pulse in your carotids if you press the tips of your fingers in the space under your jawbone and back towards your ears, but don't press too hard because you might faint.

 

 

 

 

 

internal carotid arteries. The blood flow to the back of the brain comes from the left and right

 

 

 

 

 

vertebral arteries
The vertebral arteries are blood vessels that carry blood to the bottom of the brain and the back of the brain. The vertebral arteries travel deep inside the neck and along the front of the brainstem.

 

 

 

 

 

vertebral arteries.

The Circle of Willis is where these two blood flows meet. It is a circle of arteries, deep within your brain.

A stroke happens when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off and the cells in that area are starved of oxygen and food. Brain cells can survive for a few minutes without food and oxygen. But if the blood supply is interrupted for much longer, then the brain cells die. This is why a stroke is an emergency and you should get medical help quickly if you think you, or someone you know, is having a stroke.

There are two main types of stroke.

Doctors normally find out the type of stroke you've had by doing a

 

 

 

 

 

CT scan
A CT scan is a type of X-ray. It takes several detailed pictures of the inside of your body from different angles. CT stands for computed tomography. It's also called a CAT scan (computed axial tomography).

 

 

 

 

 

CT scan or an

 

 

 

 

 

MRI scan
The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine uses a magnetic field to create detailed pictures of the inside of the body. These pictures allow doctors to look at parts of the body in three-dimensional images.

 

 

 

 

 

MRI scan.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Adams HP, Adams RJ, Brott T, et al.
Guidelines for the early management of patients with ischemic stroke.
Stroke 2003; 34: 1056-1083.

 

 

 

 

 

² (CT stands for computed tomography, MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging.) These produce images of your brain. It's important to have a scan because if you have bleeding into your brain from a burst blood vessel, you may need different treatment from someone who has a blocked blood vessel.

To learn more, see How do doctors diagnose a stroke?

There is no treatment that can bring dead brain cells back to life. But around the dead brain cells, other brain cells will still be alive. These cells are in danger of dying too, unless the blood supply is quickly started up again.

This is why you need to get treatment urgently if you have a stroke. The aim of emergency treatment is to limit the area of the brain that is damaged. Doctors try to save the brain cells that are still alive but could die if they don't get their oxygen and food supply back soon.

Another type of stroke is a transient ischaemic attack (TIA) (sometimes called a mini-stroke). It's like an ischaemic stroke, but the blood clot only blocks the vessel for a short time. The symptoms usually go away. To learn more, see Transient ischaemic attacks.

There are many things that affect your chance of having a stroke. Things that make it more likely that certain people will have a stroke are called risk factors. Here are some of the main risk factors:

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Tegos TJ, Kalodiki E, Daskalopoulou SS, et al.
Stroke: epidemiology, clinical picture, and risk factors (part I of III).
Angiology. 2000; 51: 793-808.

 

 

 

 

 

³

Things you can't change

Things you can change

Remember that even if you have certain risk factors, it doesn't mean you will have a stroke. No-one can say for sure what will happen to you as an individual.

To learn more, see Risk factors for stroke.

You can't control all of your risk factors but here are a few things you can do:

For more tips on protecting yourself from a stroke, see How to reduce your risk of a stroke

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