CVA Ischemic Flashcards
What is the most common type of stroke?
Ischemic
Why are ischemic strokes more common than hemorrhagic?
High cholesterol patients who are uncompliant are super common
Why do we call strokes brain attack?
To make it sound more urgent
You notice your new admit has hx of stroke. What do you need to assess for or ask?
Ask about any deficits they have due to the stroke
What do we need to get “on board early” in to help with a stroke and minimize damage?
Thrombolytics in order to break up the clot
What is the treatment window that begins after the onset of stroke?
3 hour window after onset of the stroke
- and this doesn’t mean when the patient got care. This means pay attention to the last known well.
When there’s a clot causing an ischemic clot, what does the decrease in blood flow result in patho wise?
Anaerobic activity, acidosis, and then cell death which is permanent
What is the brain being deprived of if there’s a stroke? Two things
Blood
Glucose
T/F
You can bring back dead brain tissue
False. If it’s dead, its gone.
T/F
You can race to try to prevent brain tissue from dying.
True - you can try to inhibit as much brain tissue from dying as possible.
You push calcium gluconate. Your patient goes stiff and then stars slurring speech. What do you do?
Calcium can make you seize up - so push it slow.
What do the vessels do when the stroke causes continued loss of function: vasodilation or vasoconstriction?
Vasoconstriction - which makes it worse and causes more damage.
What is the acute goal of care for a stroke patient?
Race against time to inhibit the amount of brain tissue affected with neuroprotectants of some sort in order to avoid long term effects and secondary injury.
What do clinical symptoms of strokes depend on?
Depends on locations of the vessels as well as the size of the area that isn’t being perfused and if they have collateral to buy time.
What is collateral blood flow?
The amount of blood able to flow despite the clot
Which patients have less collateral and higher cholesterol?
Older patients - high cholesterol
Diabetes patients -less collateral
What nature of vessels do patients have that are noncompliant with cholesterol and diabetes regiment?
Brittle vessels which is an aneurysm breaking risk
What clinical symptoms will you see with a stroke patient? (for ischemic and hemorrhagic)
Slurred words Movement deficits Sensory loss Perceptual disturbances Depression Personality changes
But this all depends on the location
Patient has hx of stroke. What do you need to assess respiratory wise?
Assess airway patency - they lose that protective mechanism in a stroke and you may have to intubate them
What is a TIA?
Warning sign that a big stroke is coming
TIA symptoms
Headache
Confusion
Very temporary. Less than 1 hour.
What diagnostic do TIA’s show up on?
None