To be familiar with drug and non-drug management of stroke To recognise the importance of rehabilitation Every year about 100,000 people in the UK have a stroke for the first time. Pathophysiology A stroke disrupts the blood supply to the brain, depriving the cells of oxygen and other nutrients.
Some cells die and others are damaged.
If the patient survives, the degree of disability depends on the area of the brain affected. As damaged cells recover, the patient may gradually improve, but brain tissue that has died is gone forever. This may be either a cerebral thrombosis, when a clot forms at the site of the blockage, or a cerebral embolism, when the clot forms elsewhere in the body and travels to the brain. In the latter, the embolus may start in the heart after a heart attack or as a result of irregular heart rhythm or heart valve problems. Lacunar stroke happens when small blood vessels deep in the brain become blocked over the long term.