Posts Tagged blood clot
Vulnerable Plaque in Heart Disease
Swelling (inflammation) is the body’s natural reaction to an injury. Inflammation can happen anywhere on the skin, within the body, and even inside the arteries. Scientists are now learning inflammation may play a part in many of the diseases that come with aging, including coronary artery disease.
For many years, doctors have thought that the main cause of a heart attack or stroke or was the buildup of fatty plaque within an artery, leading to the heart or brain. In time, the plaque buildup would narrow the artery so much, that the artery would close off or become clogged by a blood clot. The lack of oxygen-rich blood to the heart would then lead to a heart attack. However these types of blockages cause only about 3 out of 10 heart attacks.
Researchers are finding people who that heart attacks do not have arteries severely narrowed by plaque! Vulnerable plaque may be buried inside the artery wall, and not bulge out and block the blood flow through the artery. This is why researchers began to look at how inflammation affects the arteries, and to see if inflammation could lead to a heart attack.
What they found was that inflammation leads to the development of “soft” or vulnerable plaque. They also found that vulnerable plaque was more than just debris, clogging an artery, that it was filled with different cell types that help with blood clotting.
When this inflammation is combined with other stresses, like high blood pressure, it can cause the thin covering over the plaque to crack and bleed, spilling the entire contents of the vulnerable plaque into the bloodstream. The sticky cytokines on the artery wall capture blood cells (mainly platelets) that rush to the site of injury. When these cells clump together, they can form a clot large enough to block the artery
Tags: aging, blood clot, blood clotting, blood pressure, brain, heart, heart attacks, heart disease, stress, strokeRelated posts
Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Stroke
Hopefully you never had to endure a situation of someone close to you to suffer from transient ischemic attach (TIA), also known as mini stoke, or from a stroke. In any case, you should be familiar with both kinds of stroke as they both destroy brain tissue and can produce similar long-term effects. But there are important differences in what causes them and in the symptoms that tell you which kind of stroke is happening.
Ischemic Stroke:
According to statistics, 80 percent of strokes belong to the ischemic stroke kind. These mini-strokes occur when blood flow to the brain is blocked by plaque-clogged arteries or by blood clots. This means that blood is not circulating properly inside the brain causing brain cells to die if even for a few minutes no oxygen is transmitted to them via the blood.
- Symptoms: Sudden numbness or weakness, especially on one side of the body; difficulty speaking or understanding speech; trouble seeing in one or both eyes; dizziness and a sudden loss of balance; falling in and out of consciousness; chest pain and shortness of breath. These last three symptoms are less-brain-centered and are more commonly experienced by women.
Hemorrhagic Stroke:
These brain hemorrhages happen when a blood vessel in the brain bursts, spilling blood into the surrounding tissue. There are various causes of these bursts. The most frequent is the rupture of an aneurysm, a weak spot on the wall of an artery that happens to be in your brain-aneurysms can occur elsewhere in the body, too. Experts point out that women are twice as likely as men to have an aneurysm in the brain and are more likely to have multiple aneurysms than men. Two other causes for bleeding in the brain are: hypertension, which can create enough pressure to break an artery wall, and arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in the brain. This is a snarl of defective blood vessels and capillaries whose thin walls are prone to rupture.
- Symptoms: A sudden violent headache, as if cracking a fault like through the brain’s delicate architecture. The patient may also suffer from blurred vision or nausea.
If you ever suspect you might be having a TIA or stroke or believe you are witnessing someone else having one, make sure 911 (or your local emergency unit) be called immediately. Tell the dispatcher that, if possible, you want to be transported to a hospital with a stroke center. Do not attempt to drive to the emergency room yourself. Stroke patients who arrive at the hospital by ambulance are evaluated sooner by an ER physician, get the necessary testing and are admitted to the hospital or intensive-care unit more frequently than those who arrive by taxi or car. Most importantly, bring someone prepared to advocate for you or the patient. Be prepared by being informed and act fast!
Tags: balance, blood clot, blood vessel, blood vessels, brain, brain hemorrhage, chest pain, dizziness, headache, hemorrhage, hemorrhagic, hemorrhagic stroke, hospital, ischemic, ischemic attach, ischemic stroke, of the body, shortness of breath, stroke, stroke center, stroke patient, stroke patients, strokes, testing, transient ischemic, transient ischemic attachRelated posts
The Different Stroke Types
Stroke is a medical condition characterised by interruption of blood supply to the brain. This may happen of a blood vessel is blocked and stops blood from entering the brain or when there is a bleeding.
There are three types of stroke: ischemic stroke, intracerebral haemorrhage and subarachnoid haemorrhage.
Ischemic Stroke
The ischemic stroke is the most common type of stroke. Almost 80% of all stroke cases are of ischemic stroke. The ischemic stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain is blocked. Regular supply of fresh blood is vital to brains health. If a blood vessel is blocked, the brain cells cannot receive blood rich of oxygen and nutrients and they stop working. If the blood supply is stopped for more than a few minutes the brain cells start dying. The ischemic stroke may be caused by many reasons but the most common one is narrowing the arteries of the neck and the head. If the blood vessels become too narrow blood cells start to collect and form blood clogs. These clogs may block the blood vessel or dislodge and get closer to the brain and again clog the blood vessel. An ischemic stroke may be also caused by drug abuse, injury, or disorders of blood clotting.
Intracerebral Haemorrhage
The intracerebral haemorrhage stroke occurs when a blood vessel inside the brain bursts. In this case blood just leaks out causing high pressure to the cells that surround the leak. If the blood leaks out rapidly there might be a severe brain damage and even death. The intracerebral haemorrhage usually occurs in selected parts of the brain and that is why the damages may be to selected functions of the body. The intracerebral haemorrhage stroke is caused by high blood pressure and it may occur in people of all ages including children. Overall around 12% of all strokes are of this type.
Subarachnoid Haemorrhage
The subarachnoid haemorrhage occurs when a blood vessel just outside the brain bursts causing blood to leak out. The area of the skull surrounding the brain fills with blood and that is why people experiencing subarachnoid haemorrhage may feel sudden severe headache, neck pain, and nausea or vomiting. This kind of stoke is typical for people of all ages, especially for young adults and teenagers. It is more common for women than for men and is caused by a disease of the arteries. It may develop from birth or in childhood and grow very slowly.
Tags: blood clot, blood clotting, blood pressure, blood vessel, blood vessels, brain, drug abuse, headache, health, ischemic, ischemic stroke, neck pain, of the body, severe headache, stroke, stroke types, strokes, types of strokeRelated posts
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