מיני-שבץ כמו זה שעבר אריאל שרון לפי הדיווחים אינם בעלי חשיבות גדולה כשלעצמם. אבל הם סימן לדאגה עמוקה - סיכון גבוה לחטוף שבץ בגודל מלא בחודשים הבאים: 17% תוך שנה, לפי ה American Heart Association.

Mini-strokes a warning of more serious problem later
The Associated Press

Mini-strokes, like the one Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is said to have suffered on Sunday, are rarely of major consequence by themselves.
But what they signal is of grave concern — a high risk that someone will suffer a full-blown stroke in the coming months: one in seven within a year, according to the American Heart Association.

Mini-strokes — medically known as transcient ischemic attacks or TIAs — are caused by a blood clot that forms anywhere in the body and lodges in a vessel in the head, depriving a region of the brain of blood and oxygen.

This causes the same symptoms as a stroke — loss of motion on one side of the body, trouble speaking — but they last less than a day and resolve as the clot breaks up on its own.

The challenge, then, is to find the cause of the blockages and prevent them from doing damage again — the reason doctors say that anyone who suffers a TIA should be hospitalized and not brush off the signs as something minor.

In the case of Sharon, who doctors say never lost consciousness and is recovering on his own, "there should be minimal to no permanent damage," said Dr. Robert A. Felberg, a neurologist who directs the stroke program at Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans. (Related story: Sharon suffers stroke)

But Sharon like all TIA patients now needs tests to check for blockages in arteries in the head and neck, and for an irregular heart rate problem called atrial fibrillation that can lead to strokes, Felberg said.

Doctors consider TIAs and strokes "brain attacks," much like blockages that can cause heart attacks. Treating them often involves blood thinners to prevent clots from forming.

Once the cause of the clot is identified — clogged arteries in the neck, for instance — surgery to remove them, called endarterectomy, sometimes is recommended.

In recent years doctors have tried a less drastic alternative — balloon angioplasty to flatten the deposits and placing stents, tiny mesh scaffolds, to prop the arteries open — but this is still somewhat of an experimental procedure.

TIAs, like strokes, are more common as people age, and among smokers. Nearly 4% of American men ages 75 to 79 have had a TIA, according to the heart association. Sharon is 77 and severely overweight, but obesity by itself isn't a contributing factor.

"But the problem is the other things with it," like high cholesterol, which do raise risk, Felberg said.

About 700,000 strokes occur in the United States each year and it is the nation's third leading cause of death.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health...i-strokes_x.htm

חתימתכם הוסרה כיוון שלא עמדה בחוקי האתר. לפרטים נוספים לחצו כאן. תוכלו לקבל עזרה להתאמת החתימה לחוקים בפורום חתימות וצלמיות.