Stroke

• What is a stroke?

  It is an interruption to blood flow in the brain. A cerebral artery fails to deliver oxygen to the neurones of the brain and so they die.
• There are 2 main causes of strokes:

  • 87% are ischaemic strokes, where a blood vessel is blocked. It can be caused by:
  • a blood clot, or thrombus, forming at the site
  • an embolus, i.e. material including blood clots, cholesterol, fat or bubbles of air, travelling in the blood stream
  • 13% are haemorrhagic strokes, caused by:
  • bleeding into the brain or the space around it, which can produce an intense headache