MINISTROKES

Physicians call them transient ischemic attacks or TIAs, but make no mistake, these ministrokes can
be deadly. What´s worse, many people who suffer attacks rarely seek medical help. Director of UAV´s
comprehensive stroke centre, doctor  Andrey Alexandrov: “  Ministrokes, or TIAs, tend to resolve on
its own, usually within minutes, and because symptoms resolve relatively fast, patients tend not to
call 911. And that´s the problem.


A devastating problem considering a general study found TIAs often proceed a major stroke. “10% of
these patients, full 10%, will have a major stroke within 3 months from the TIA, and half of these
strokes occur withing the first   two day. There´s no time to wait. The most critical time after
noticing that you may have a stroke is 1 hour. That hour deteremines what will happen to you later
on.”


If you get to a hospital within an hour of the onset of symptoms, clot-busting drugs can reverse
the neurological damage. Surgeons can also perfom catheter procedures on some patients to remove
clots from brain vessel. “UAV does more procedure that any hospital in Alabama.”


UAV is one the few hospitals staffed 24/7 with an emergency stroke team to offer a range of
comprehensive services. Many people don´t have a TIA before a stroke, so in essence, you are
fortunate to have one, giving doctors a chance to intervene. A TIA occurs when blood flow to a part
of the brain is temporarily blocked. Symtoms include weakness or numbeness on one side of the body,
inability to speak clearly or see. The symptoms last few minutes to many hours.


“Stroke does not receive recognition it deserves because there is no pain. Since there is no pain,
people are not complaining as much as they would complain about chest pain.” Doctor Alexandrov says
the exception – bleeding to the coverings of the brain. In that case, you would be likely to
experience sudden unexplained headache.