Ischemic Stroke
Sudden loss of blood supply to part of the brain due to a clot, causing weakness, slurred speech, facial droop, or vision loss.
Symptoms
- Sudden weakness or numbness of the face, arm
- Sudden facial drooping
- Slurred speech or difficulty speaking
- Difficulty understanding speech
- Sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes
- Blurred or double vision
- Sudden confusion
- Difficulty walking or loss of balance and coordination
- Dizziness
- Sudden severe headache (less common, but may occur)
- Difficulty swallowing
- Sudden loss of consciousness (in severe cases)
Sudden loss of blood supply to part of the brain due to a clot, causing weakness, slurred speech, facial droop, or vision loss. Causes include atherosclerosis, atrial fibrillation, and small vessel disease. Immediate treatment is intravenous thrombolysis (tPA) within 4.5 hours, or mechanical thrombectomy for large-vessel blockage up to 24 hours in selected patients. Long-term management includes antiplatelets, statins, blood pressure control, and rehabilitation. The newest advance is extended-window thrombectomy guided by perfusion imaging, allowing treatment of patients previously considered too late.
