Week 2 Flashcards
(40 cards)
What is a stroke?
An acute loss of perfusion to vascular territories, causing ischaemia and loss of neurologic function
Identify and describe the two types of stroke
- Ischaemic (Infarct) stroke - a clot blocks blood flow to an area of the brain
- Haemorrhagic (bleed) - bleeding occurs inside or around brain tissue
What are the two main pathophysiological mechanisms causing ischaemic stroke?
- Thrombosis: A blood clot (thrombus) forms within a cerebral blood vessel, leading to local obstruction of blood flow.
- Embolism: A clot or other debris (embolus) forms elsewhere in the body (commonly in the heart or large arteries) and travels to the brain. Commonly seen in people with Atrial Fibrillation, a heart condition that causes an irregular heart beat
What is the ischaemic core?
Ischaemic core is the area of brain tissue that has undergone irreversible damage due to the severity of ischaemia.
What is the ischaemic penumbra?
Ischaemic penumbra is the area of brain tissue which is salvageable post-stroke if efficient treated with reperfusion therapy (e.g., Thrombolysis, Thrombectomy)
List and describe the two types of haemorrhagic stroke
- Intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH): Bleeding into brain tissue
- Subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH): Bleeding into the space around the brain
What are the common causes of a haemorrhagic stroke?
Hypertension, ruptured aneurism, traumatic brain injury, arteriovenous malformation (AVM - tangle of abnormal blood vessels)
What are the uncontrollable and controllable risk factors for stroke?
Uncontrollable: Age, gender, race/ethnicity, heredity/genetics, low birth weight
Controllable: Hypertension, Cardiac Disease, Atrial Fibrillation, high cholesterol, contraceptive pill, low SES, alcohol abuse, prior TIA, diabetes, smoking, obesity, poor diet, migraine
In 2023, there was 1 stroke experienced every _____ minutes by an Australian.
11
Are men or women more likely to experience stroke?
Men
On a global scale, how likely are you to experience a stroke in your lifetime?
1 in 4 people will experience a stroke in their lifetime
How much did stroke cost Australia in 2023?
$9 billon
What percentage of strokes can be prevented?
More than 80 percent of strokes can be prevented.
In 2023, what percentage of stroke occurred in people under the age of 65 years?
1 in 4 strokes occurred in people under the age of 65 years
Regional Australians are _____ percent more likely to experience stroke than Australians in metropolitan areas
17
When a stroke strikes, it attacks up to ______ brain cells per minute
1.9 million
Without action by 2050, it is predicted that the number of strokes experienced by Australians annually will increase to ______
72, 000
List the 3 ways stroke can be classified by.
- The specific area of brain affected
- Lobes involved
- Area of blood supply
What is the prognosis of stroke in terms of survival?
- More than three-quarters of people who have a stroke survive for a year
- Over half of people survive for more than five years
- The prognosis for an ischemic stroke is better than for a hemorrhagic stroke
What is the prognosis of stroke in terms of disability?
- About one quarter of people who survive a stroke have minor disabilities
- About 40% of people who survive a stroke have more severe disabilities
- Stroke is the largest single cause of adult disability
Describe the location and functions of the frontal lobe.
Location: Front of the brain, behind the forehead
Function:
- Higher-order thinking: Decision making, problem-solving, reasoning
- Motor control: Voluntary movement (via the primary motor cortex)
- Speech production: Broca’s area (left hemisphere) – controls speech
- Personality & emotions: Regulates behaviour and impulse control
Describe the location and functions of the parietal lobe.
Location: Behind the frontal lobe, at the top of the brain
Function:
- Sensory processing: Touch, temperature, pain (via the somatosensory cortex)
- Spatial awareness: Helps with navigation and body positioning
- Perception & integration: Combines sensory information from different source
Describe the location and functions of the temporal lobe.
Location: On the sides of the brain, near the ears
Function:
- Hearing & language comprehension: Wernicke’s area (left hemisphere) – understanding speech
- Memory formation: Houses the hippocampus, critical for long-term memory
- Emotion processing: Involves the amygdala, important for fear and emotional responses
Describe the location and functions of the occipital lobe.
Location: Back of the brain
Function:
- Vision processing: Interprets visual information from the eyes
- Object & colour recognition: Helps distinguish shapes, movement, and colours
