4 Different Types of Strokes
By Chauncey Crandall, M.D.
Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein are all politicians. But that’s not all they have in common.
These four men, who are not the typical age you might think of for a stroke, suffered such an incident. At 64, Hollen is the eldest of the group, followed by Stein at 56, Fetterman at 53, and Lujan at 50.
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Though strokes in younger people are not common, they do happen. And because they come as a surprise, they can be overlooked — sometimes with disastrous results.
All adults should be on the lookout for the four types of stroke:
Ischemic stroke is the most common type, accounting for 87% of cases. It occurs when a vessel supplying blood to the brain becomes obstructed. Once considered rare, research now shows this type of stroke occurs three times more often than originally thought, primarily in men and older women.
Hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel within the skull is ruptured and leaks. This can be caused by physical trauma such as a head injury, or a nontraumatic factor such as the rupture of an aneurysm, which is a ballooning of the vessel wall.
Silent stroke, or cerebral infarction, is likely caused by a blood clot that interrupts blood flow in the brain but has no symptoms. Silent strokes affect about 11 million Americans a year, and they double the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia. Atrial fibrillation and high blood pressure are major risk factors for silent strokes.
Transient ischemic attack, or TIA, occurs when a person suffers one or more symptoms of a stroke, but the effect disappears fairly quickly. This is not a minor event. About one-third of people who have a TIA go on to suffer a major stroke.
If you experience one of the warning signs of a stroke, even for a short time, call 911. Symptoms include weakness or numbness on one side of the body, drooping on one side of the face, difficulty reading words or understanding speech, slurred speech, sudden severe headache, nausea, loss of peripheral vision, and difficulty walking.
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