Your doctor will diagnose a stroke by conducting a physical examination and reviewing images of your brain. In hospital, doctors will carry out tests to check whether you have had a stroke, or have another condition. If it’s a stroke, they will work out what kind of stroke it is, find out which part of your brain is affected and decide how to treat it. You might need different tests. Some common ones include: a computer tomography (CT) scan a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan an angiogram or ultrasound to pinpoint a potential blood clot and assess blood flow an electrocardiogram (ECG) to check for unusual heart rhythms blood tests to rule out other medical conditions Some illnesses that are unrelated to stroke may show stroke-like symptoms and require different treatments. These include migraine, seizures, low blood sugar, fainting and heart arrhythmias.