ABSTRACT
Many patients presenting as ‘medical emergencies’ have acute neurological symptoms and signs. Stroke is defined as a sudden onset of focal (sometimes global) neurological deficit in a known vascular territory, of vascular origin, that lasts longer than 24 hours, or causes death. It is the third most common cause of death in most developed countries, accounting for approximately 4.5 million deaths each year worldwide. Hypo-glycaemia may exacerbate old symptoms and signs of a previous stroke. A stroke can be the first manifestation of cardiovascular disease in a patient. Knowledge of common drugs can often help when assessing both the patient’s clinical risk factors and the underlying disease. Strokes can occur at any age, yet more than half of all strokes occur in people over 70 years old. The commonest type of stroke is ischaemic (80%), secondary to thrombotic or embolic occlusion of a cerebral artery; the remainder are mainly caused by intracerebral haemorrhage.
