Strokes are dangerous.
stroke survivors have a high risk of having another event.
There are two types of strokes. A "red" stroke is caused by bleeding into the brain, and is known as an intra-cranial hemorrhage. A "white" stroke occurs when a clot travels downstream in the arteries, eventually blocking the arteries in the brain. About 10% of strokes are red, 90% are white.
The first question a stroke survivor should ask:
Did I have a white stroke or a red stroke?
Of people who survive a first white stroke, within 1 year 8% will have another one (1), and within 2 years 11% will have a second one (2). In one study, 39% of second strokes were fatal (2).
Within 4-5 years after a stroke, 18% of patients will have another one (3,4), and 17% will suffer from a heart attack or vascular death (4). In other words, within 4-5 years after surviving a stroke, 35% of patients will die or have a life-altering CV event. That’s 1 out of 3.
At CardioSound, we can help you lower your risk for a second event.
The second question a stroke survivor should ask:
Why did I have a stroke? Or..What are the forces (or risk factors) that caused my stroke?
If you don’t answer that question, then you’ll never know the answer to this question: How can I make sure I never have another stroke?
Was your stroke a white stroke or a red stroke? If it was a white stroke, where did it come from?
Did it come from atrial fibrillation (an irregular heart rhythm)?
Or did it come from somewhere else? That somewhere else is the key. We don’t know where most white strokes come from. We call them “idiopathic,” meaning that the pathology is unknown.
We believe most of those unknown strokes come from plaque in the arteries. If your stroke was one of those idiopathic strokes from an unknown source, then there is one more question you need to ask. And it’s the most important question you’ll ever ask:
Are my arteries getting better? Are worse?
Our Ask the Arteries trending program uses cutting edge technology to take two snapshots of your plaque disease, 3 months apart. We test more arteries than anyone.
Ask your arteries. They’ll tell you.
What about a TIA? (a Transient Ischemic Attack is sometimes called a “Mini-Stroke.”)
Have you had a TIA but no stroke? A TIA means danger. 10% of patients with a TIA suffer from a stroke within 90 days. Half within 48 hours of the TIA. Each year after a TIA brings a 3% chance of having a CV event (10 year risk 30%, which is really high).
references
1. Jones, SB, et al. Post-stroke outcomes vary by pathoghenic stroke sub-type in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Stroke. 2013; 44:2307-2310.
Callaly, E, et al. Rates, predictors and outcomes of early and late recurrence after stroke: the North Dublin Population Stroke Study. Stroke. 2016; 47:244-246
Feng W, et al. Risk of recurrent stroke, myocardial infarction, or death in hospitalized stroke patients. Neurology. 2010; 74:588-593.
Dhamoon MS, et al. Risk of myocardial infarction or vascular death after first ischemic stroke: the Northern Manhattan Study. Stroke. 2007 Jun;38(6):1752-8.