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What Is Cerebral Vascular Disease?

Cerebrovascular disease: Disease of the blood vessels and, especially, the arteries that supply the brain

Cerebrovascular disease is usually caused by atherosclerosis and can lead to a stroke.

Cerebrovascular disease is usually caused by atherosclerosis and can lead to a stroke

A cerebral vascular event (stroke) is defined as a sudden neurological deficit in the braincaused by either ischemia (a lack of blood supply to the brain) or a hemorrhage: 80% of all

strokes occur due to arterial blockage (ischemia), and 20% occur due to bleeding (hemorrhage).Hemorrhagic strokes are classified as either occurring within the brain tissue (intracerebral or

intraparenchymal) or around the brain tissue (subarachnoid).

SYMTOMS:

According to the National Stroke Association (1999), strokes more often occur abruptly, with the

following symptoms which often develop suddenly:Difficulty standing or walking, dizziness, loss of balance, loss of coordination

Numbness in the face, arm or leg weakness, particularly on one side of the bodyConfusion, difficulty speaking or understanding

Vision difficulty in one or both eyesSevere headaches that have no known cause

Other important, but less common stroke symptoms include:Nausea, fever, and vomiting that is different from a viral illness in the speed of onset (begins in

minutes or hours instead of over several days)

Carotid artery Effects retina, cerebral hemisphere, or both.Retinal Transient blackouts; the sense of a shade pulled over the eyes.

Cerebral Contralateral (opposite sided) paralysis of a single body part; paralysis of one side of

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the body; localized tingling, numbness; hemianopic visual loss; aphasia (loss of speech); rareloss of consciousness.

Vertebrobasilar Bilateral visual disturbance including dim, gray, or blurred vision or temporarytotal blindness; diplopia (double vision).

Labyrinth/medulla Vertigo; unsteadiness; nausea; vomiting.

Brainstem Slurring dysarthria (tongue weakness causing impaired speech); dysphagia (difficultyswallowing); numbness, weakness; all four limb paresthesia; drop attacks from sudden loss ofpostural tone are basilar in origin; a vertebrobasilar artery occlusion episode causes symptoms to

be induced by abrupt position changes.Subclavian Steal

syndrome Symptoms of claudication (lameness or limping) of an exercised arm with symptomsof vertebrobasilar insufficiency described above.

Approximately 15% of all strokes are due to intracranial hemorrhage. Hemorrhagic stroke can be diffuse

(i.e., bleeding into the subarachnoid or intraventricular spaces) or focal (i.e., intraparenchymal

hemorrhage). About two thirds of intracranial bleeding are predominantly subarachnoid hemorrhages,

whereas about a third are intracerebral hemorrhages. Subarachnoid hemorrhage is usually caused byrupture of vessels on or near the surface of the brain or ventricles (e.g., aneurysms, vascular

malformations), with bleeding mainly into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) spaces. Intracerebral

hemorrhage is most frequently caused by the rupture of arteries that are within the brain substance

(e.g., hypertensive hemorrhage, vascular malformations) but do not extend to the CSF spaces. Both

types of hemorrhagic stroke have high mortality rates, depending on subtype and location. Prevention is

the mainstay of management