Stroke Care
Stroke Treatment
Every minute is critical in minimizing the damage caused by a stroke. The Palm Beach Health Network understands that treating you quickly and according to the best stroke practices will preserve more brain function and a better quality of life for you after a stroke.
What is Stroke?
A stroke is a brain attack and requires immediate medical attention. Strokes happen when blood flow to the brain is interrupted, causing brain cells to begin dying from lack of oxygenated blood. If you suspect a stroke, call 911.
There are two major kinds of stroke:
- Ischemic Stroke - The most common, is caused by a blood clot that blocks or plugs a blood vessel or artery in the brain. This clot causes a region of the brain to be deprived of oxygen and essential nutrients, leading to death of brain cells.
- Hemorrhagic Stroke – This type of stroke is caused by a blood vessel breaking and bleeding into the brain. Two types of weakened blood vessels that typically cause hemorrhagic stroke are aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs).
- Brain Aneurysms - A brain aneurysm occurs when a blood vessel develops a weak area in the wall that allows the vessel to balloon out and fill with blood.
- Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) - AVMs happen when a group of blood vessels in your body forms incorrectly. In these malformations, arteries and veins are unusually tangled.
Stroke Warning Signs and Symptoms
If you experience any of the stroke signs, or identify the signs in someone else, B.E. F.A.S.T. and dial 911. Use the National Stroke Association’s B.E. F.A.S.T. test to help you remember the warning signs and symptoms of stroke:
- Balance - Balance loss – Check to see if the person has trouble walking or standing up right
- Eyesight - Eyesight loss – Is the person experiencing loss of eyesight?
- Face - Facial weakness – Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?
- Arm - Arm weakness – Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
- Speech - Speech problems – Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence. Are the words slurred? Can the patient repeat the sentence correctly?
- Time - If a person is having trouble with these basic commands, call 911 immediately.
Stroke Diagnosis
Time is critical in preventing further damage to your brain and in reversing the damage already done during a stroke. For this reason, you should get to an emergency room as quickly as possible. After an initial review of your symptoms and medical history, a physical exam will focus on identifying the area of your brain that is being damaged. Your condition will be stabilized.
The diagnosis evaluation includes:
- Neurological exams
- Blood and urine tests
- Imaging scans
Stroke Treatment
Strokes are fast. We’re faster. We treat strokes as a medical emergency. Once a “code stroke” is called our stroke team is activated and ready to provide our patients with rapid treatment.
Having a stroke may dramatically change your lifestyle. But the changes are so varied that they cannot be predicted even after the acute event. You may recover completely from a stroke days, weeks, or months later. A stroke can leave you permanently impaired or the effects may be minimal. The days and weeks after your first stroke may be an entirely new world to you, a world of hard work to recover and retrain whatever functions the stroke deprived you of—speech, walking, use of an arm or leg—and to redirect your life so that you can profit most from your remaining abilities.
Treatment involves the following:
- Lifestyle changes
- Medication
- Surgery
- Rehabilitation
Stroke risk factors include smoking and poor diet. Read the full list of risk factors below to reduce your chances of experiencing a stroke.
- Smoking
- A diet high on trans and saturated fats
- A diet low in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fiber
- Using illegal drugs, especially cocaine and amphetamines
Medical conditions that increase your risk of a stroke are:
- Being over 75 years of age
- Family history of stroke
- Past medical conditions like atrial fibrillation
