Monday, May 27, 2013

An Updated Definition of Stroke for the 21st Century

Great, our medical team doesn't even have a definition of stroke. How the hell do we expect them to solve all the problems in stroke rehab, prevention, research?
Written about in 1999;
Stroke is the wrong term to use
The term ‘stroke’ is obscurantist, reductionist, and redundant. It has connotations that are unhelpful to both the general public and the medical profession. Better terms exist that either do not pretend to be a diagnosis (eg, ‘brain attack’), or that have some pathophysiological significance. ‘Stroke’ should be consigned to the dustbin of medical usage.

And 13 years later we might get some definition. We are working with sloths but that would denigrate sloths.
http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/early/2013/05/07/STR.0b013e318296aeca

Abstract

Despite the global impact and advances in understanding the pathophysiology of cerebrovascular diseases, the term “stroke” is not consistently defined in clinical practice, in clinical research, or in assessments of the public health. The classic definition is mainly clinical and does not account for advances in science and technology. The Stroke Council of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association convened a writing group to develop an expert consensus document for an updated definition of stroke for the 21st century. Central nervous system infarction is defined as brain, spinal cord, or retinal cell death attributable to ischemia, based on neuropathological, neuroimaging, and/or clinical evidence of permanent injury. Central nervous system infarction occurs over a clinical spectrum: Ischemic stroke specifically refers to central nervous system infarction accompanied by overt symptoms, while silent infarction by definition causes no known symptoms. Stroke also broadly includes intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage. The updated definition of stroke incorporates clinical and tissue criteria and can be incorporated into practice, research, and assessments of the public health.

5 comments:

  1. This is so typical, isn't it, Dean? Mine was an aneurism, not to be confused with a hemorrhage. Yet in the article you quote, aneurism isn't even mentioned.

    BTW, thanks for visiting my blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An aneurysm is an abnormal widening or ballooning of a portion of an artery due to weakness in the wall of the blood vessel. A hemorrhage might be when one of these explode.

      Delete
    2. Exactly. The blood clot was these in the left side of my brain. It did not burst. Through blood thinners, the medical staff took care of it. Unfortunately, this wasn't done until 19 hours after I had the aneurism (can be spelled with a 'y' or an 'i'). If I had received treatment sooner, chances are that I would have had full recovery or just minor weakness.

      Delete
  2. that would denigrate sloths.
    That made me laugh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If I can't make someone laugh or scream in anger each day, I haven't succeeded

      Delete