FAQ

A stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures and bleeds, or when there’s a blockage in the blood supply to the brain. The rupture or blockage prevents blood and oxygen from reaching the brain’s tissues.

There are two types of stroke: Ischemic stroke. Hemorrhagic stroke.

Ischemic stroke occurs when a blood clot blocks or narrows an artery leading to the brain. A blood clot often forms in arteries damaged by the buildup of plaques (atherosclerosis). It can occur in the carotid artery of the neck as well as other arteries. This is the most common type of stroke.

A complete pacemaker check should be done six weeks after a pacemaker is implanted. A pacemaker should then be checked every three/six months to evaluate battery function. Regular follow-up is important after a pacemaker implant. Your doctor will tell you how often you will need to have it checked.

Hemorrhagic strokes make up about 13 % of stroke cases. They’re caused by a weakened vessel that ruptures and bleeds into the surrounding brain. The blood accumulates and compresses the surrounding brain tissue.

The two types of hemorrhagic strokes are intracerebral (within the brain) hemorrhage or subarachnoid hemorrhage.

A hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a weakened blood vessel ruptures. Two types of weakened blood vessels usually cause hemorrhagic stroke: aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs).

Atherosclerosis is a hardening and narrowing of your arteries caused by cholesterol plaques lining the artery over time. It can put blood flow at risk as your arteries become blocked.

You might hear it called arteriosclerosis or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. It’s the usual cause of heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral vascular disease — what together are called cardiovascular disease.

• Sudden numbness or weakness in the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body.
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking, or difficulty understanding speech.
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance, or lack of coordination.
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause.

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg (especially on one side of the body)
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding speech
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause

An MRI can detect brain tissue damaged by an ischemic stroke and brain hemorrhages. Your doctor may inject a dye into a blood vessel to view the arteries and veins and highlight blood flow (magnetic resonance angiography or magnetic resonance venography).

Transient ischemic attacks usually last a few minutes. Most signs and symptoms disappear within an hour, though rarely symptoms may last up to 24 hours. The signs and symptoms of a TIA resemble those found early in a stroke and may include sudden onset of:

• Weakness, numbness or paralysis in the face, arm or leg, typically on one side of the body
• Slurred or garbled speech or difficulty understanding others
• Blindness in one or both eyes or double vision
• Vertigo or loss of balance or coordination

A carotid ultrasound scan can show if there is narrowing or any blockages in the neck arteries leading to your brain. A small probe (transducer) sends high-frequency sound waves into your body. When these sound waves bounce back, they can be used to create an image of the inside of your body.

Hemorrhagic strokes that result from a rupturing blood vessel can have serious, immediate, and life-threatening symptoms such as:

• Sudden, severe headache near the back of the head. Many people have described this as the “worst headache of your life.”
• Losing consciousness
• Inability to move or feel
• Confusion and irritability
• Muscle pain in neck and shoulders
• Nausea and vomiting
• Sensitivity to light
• Seizure
• Vision problems
• Drooping eyelids
• One eye pupil larger than the other

The major risk factors for heart disease are smoking, high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity, diabetes, age, gender, and heredity (including race).

There is a myth that women aren’t as prone to heart disease as men. This is not true. Women account for nearly half of all heart attack deaths.

Angina is a recurring pain or discomfort in the chest that happens when some part of the heart does not receive enough blood temporarily. A person may notice it during exertion, but is usually relieved within a few minutes by resting or by taking prescribed angina medicine. However, the symptoms of heart attack last longer and are not relieved by rest or pain medications.

Electrocardiograms, blood tests, coronary angiography, cardiac catheterization, echocardiogram, stress tests, and MSCT angiogram can all help in diagnosis of heart attack.

The treatment options include medications, angioplasty and stent placement, atherectomy and coronary artery bypass grafting. The choice of treatment will depend on the extent of the disease.

Having had a treatment for heart attack does not mean that you will never have another heart attack, but certain lifestyle modifications and preventive steps taken will help reduce the risk of another attack.

Lifestyle changes like quitting smoking, limiting the intake of alcohol, having a balanced diet, regular exercise and treatment of underlying conditions that increase risk of heart attack with proper medications can all help in preventing heart attacks.

Accordion Content

“Heart failure” means the heart has completely stopped working

1 Balloon Angioplasty
2 Laser Angioplasty
3 Atherectomy
4 Stenting

Several tests are used to detect heart diseases.
Amongst those some are blood tests, some are Noninvasive imaging modality: like ECG, ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY , Cardiac CT , Cardiac MRI and some are invasive tests like coronary angiography.  Invasive tests are most reliable tests to detect blockage in coronary arteries because ECG and ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY does not pick up unless and until you have at least moderate form of heart attack. So ecg and ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY abnormal means you have some form of heart attack.

Before answering this question you need to understand whether we are dealing with heart attack patients or we are dealing with patients with blockage in their coronary arteries but still now does not have heart attack. For 1st group of patients ecg and echocardiography is abnormal in all patients but for 2nd group hardly ecg and echo are abnormal only answer is.