| What is a Stroke? |
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 A stroke is when an area of the brain is deprived of its blood supply -
usually because of a blockage or burst blood vessel - for long enough
to cause vital brain tissue to die. It's essentially the same as what
happens in the arteries leading to the heart when someone has a heart
attack, which is why a stroke is now often described as...
a 'brain attack'.
If brain cells lose their supply of oxygen from the blood, they may be damaged or die. When this happens, it's so sudden there's little medical science can do to prevent it. Dead brain cells can't start working again. However, surrounding these dead cells is an area of tissue where blood supply is poor but not lost completely, so the nerve cells are receiving barely enough oxygen to stay alive. One of the main aims of treating a stroke is to act fast enough to save this threatened brain tissue by restoring blood flow to the area and minimising the damage. As the inflammation and swelling caused by the stroke subside, brain cells near the dead cells may recover and begin working again. |
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