Stroke

Last revised by Frank Gaillard on 26 Apr 2023

A stroke is a clinical diagnosis that refers to a sudden onset focal neurological deficit of presumed vascular origin.

Stroke is generally divided into two broad categories 1,2:

  1. ischaemic stroke (87%)
  2. haemorrhagic stroke (13%)

Terminology

The term "stroke" is ambiguous and care must be taken to ensure that precise terminology is used. This is particularly the case for "haemorrhagic stroke" which although is often used synonymously with intracerebral haemorrhage, has a broader definition to many authors and organisations to also include subarachnoid haemorrhage 1. Additionally, "haemorrhagic stroke" can easily be confused with "haemorrhagic transformation of an ischaemic stroke". An argument has been made to abandon the term "haemorrhagic stroke" entirely 3.

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