Stroke Flashcards
Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA)
Neurological dysfunction
Symptoms last from minutes up to 24 hours
TIA is a warning sign for potential stroke
Is an stroke considered at ABI?
YES - injury after birth, not from genetic or congenitial disorder and included traumatic and non traumatic injures
Cerebral Vascualr Accident: Overview
- 3rd leading cause of death in Canada, 1st in LT disability
- Risk factors: HTN, CVD, diabetes, elevated cholesterol, smoking, obesity, older age, M>F, family history, previous stroke/TIA
CVA: Signs and Symptoms
- Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg
- Sudden confusion
- Trouble speaking
- Sudden trouble seeing out of both eyes
- Dizziness, loss of balance, or coordination
- Sudden severe headache with no known cause
CVA: Ischemic Stroke
- 80% (most common)
- Could be due to a thrombus or embolism
- BLOCKAGE
- Most common cause in older adults = thrombosis
CVA: Ischemic Stroke - Lacunar strokes
- Subgroup of ischemic stroke
- Most common type of stroke
- Blockage of small deep generating arteries of the brain that feed the deep nuclei of the brain
- Associated with HTN and diabetes
- Correlation with decreased cognition
CVA: Hemorrhagic Stroke
- 20% of strokes
- Due to aneurysms and arteriovenous malformation (AVM), HTN, head trauma, illicit drug use and bleeding disorders
- BURST
- AVM: a tangle of abnormal or poorly formed blood vessels that have a higher rate of bleeding than normal vessels
- Arterial factors: atherosclerotic plaques, aneurysms, pressure on artery walls
- Venous factors: tendency for blood to clot quickly, irritation or inflammation of the lining of a vein
CVA: Penumbra
- Area of the brain at risk of dying
- Located between an area of perfusion and necrosis
- May be viable for several hours post stroke
- If ischemic, TPA can be used to save more brain tissue
CVA: Prognosis for a Stroke - ABCD score
- Clinical prediction rule used to determine the risk for stroke on the days following a TIA
- Age, blood pressure, clinical features, duration
- Those who are older than 60, uncontrolled HTN, multiple clinical features and TIA symptoms lasting greater than an hour have increased prognosis for a CVA
CVA: Positive prognosis post stroke
- Younger age
- Ability to mobilize within a couple days
- Ischemic type stroke
- Absence of visuospatial deficits, absence of aphasia, absence of severe cognitive deficits, absence of incontinence, absence of LOC, absence of co-morbidities
- Early PT on a daily basis to maximize recovery
CVA: Medical Treatment
IF THROMBOTIC:
- Thrombolytic agents
- Tissue plasminogen activator (TPA): digests fibrin to break down clot, administered within 3 hours of initial symptoms
- Within 6 hours, can be mechanical thrombectomy
IF HEMORRHAGIC:
- Endovascular procedure: coil is inserted to prevent a rupture, aneurysm clip
PREVENTION of THROMBOTIC:
- Asprin
- Lipid lowering agents
- Lifesytles changes
- Angioplasty/stents to widen artery
CVA: RIght CVA Characteristics
Non verbal artsitic brain
- Left sided weakness
- Visual agnosia: impairment of recognition of visually presented objects
- Prosopagnosia: inability to recognize faces or pictures of familiar people
- Anosognosia (denial): deny that they had a stroke, believe limbs belong to someone else
- Disorientated awareness and impression of self: NEGLECT - may ignore left side of body or environment
- Decreased/short attention span: difficulty following instructions or answering questions
- Decreased musical/artistic abilities
- Visual spacial problems: judging distance, size, position and rate of movement
- Difficult with emotional content of language (speaks monotone)
- Issues discriminating smells
CVA: Left CVA Characterstics
Verbal analytical brain
- Right sided weakness
- Decreased numerical and scientific skills
- Diminished functional speech (aphasia)
CVA: Types of Aphasia: Wernicke’s
- Types
- Location
- Characteristics
- Communication strategy used
- Type: Receptive/fluent
- Location: left temporal lobe
- Characteristics: Spontaneous speech is preserved, auditory comprehension is impaired
- Strategy: Use demonstrations, gesture, pictures (visual modalities) for communication
CVA: Types of Aphasia: Broca’s
- Types
- Location
- Characteristics
- Communication strategy used
- Type: expressive/non fluent
- Location: left frontal lobe
- Characteristics: impairment motor production of speech, auditory comprehension is spared
- Communication strategy used: use verbal cues in communication