ABSTRACT
Someone who suffers a sudden attack of unconsciousness, then becomes paralyzed on one side, and loses the power of speech has probably suffered a stroke, but it is not always easy to say exactly what the word “stroke” means. Families often ask whether a patient’s mental symptoms are due to a stroke. They may ask this because of the presence of physical symptoms at the onset of the illness, the suddenness of onset, the presence of stroke risk factors, or the finding of abnormalities on the Computer axial tomography (CAT) scan or Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The answer to the question, “Was it a stroke?” may be needed in order to decide on therapy. In this case the question will probably be about what is going on in the patient’s brain: Is there an infarct? Is there an artery obstruction? Is there an embolism? Is there bleeding?
