The term stroke (apoplexy) is applied to acute severe manifestations of cerebrovascular disease. It leads to both physical and mental crippling. WHO defined stroke as "rapidly developed clinical signs of focal disturbance of cerebral function; lasting more than 24 hours or leading to death, with no apparent cause other than vascular origin."

Causes and Symptoms

The disturbance of cerebral function may be due to three morphological abnormalities, i.e., stenosis, occlusion or rupture of the arteries.

Dysfunction of the brain manifests itself by various neurological signs and symptoms that are related to extent and site of the area involved and to the underlying causes. These include coma, hemiplegia, paraplegia, monoplegia, multiple paralysis, speech disturbances, nerve paresis, sensory impairment, etc. Of these, hemiplegic constitutes the main somato neurological disorder in about 90 per cent of patients.

Stroke includes a number of syndromes with differing etiologies, epidemiology, prognosis and treatment. These include subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral thrombosis or embolism and occlusion of pre-cerebral arteries, transient cerebral ischemia (of more than 24 hours).

Risk Factors

Stroke does not occur at random but risk factors such as hypertension, cardiac abnormalities, diabetes, elevated blood lipids, obesity, smoking, blood clotting and viscosity etc proceed by several years.

Diet

The diet should be well balanced, with special emphasis on B vitamins and vitamin C because they are needed for general health of the blood vessels. Vitamin E helps to prevent clots, reducing the need for oxygen. Reduction of over weight by sensible dieting is of the utmost importance. Whole grains, fruits, vegetables and complete proteins should be emphasized. All nutrients should meet the demands of stress and should lower blood cholesterol.

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