Glossary

• Amaurosis fugax (tran­sient monocular blind­ness): a sudden blindness, often like a black shutter coming down, affecting one eye. This is usually the result of problems with the cir­culation to the brain and eye and is a sort of mini-stroke affecting the eye. Needs to be assessed by your doctor.

• Aneurysm: an abnormal weak area of blood vessel wall prone to bursting (a common cause of a subarachnoid haemorrhage).

• Apoplexy: a very old term for stroke.

• Artery: a blood vessel usual­ly carrying blood pumped from the heart to parts of the body. This is the higher pressure part of the blood supply system.

• Aspirin: a well-known drug that thins the blood and prevents clotting. Used to treat patients with stroke.

• Atherosclerosis: the med­ical condition that leads to the furring up and blockage of blood vessels. This damage to the blood vessels is often a source of blood clots, leading to strokes and heart attacks.

• Atherothrombosis: the condition of abnormal blood clots forming on damaged blood vessels (atherosclerosis).

• Atrial fibrillation (AF): an abnormal heart condition where the heart beats irregularly, often causing palpitations; it can lead to strokes caused by abnormal blood clots formed in the heart.

• Carotid arteries: the two main blood vessels in the front of the neck which make up two of the four main blood vessels supplying the brain.

• Cerebrovascular accident (CVA): an old term for stroke.

• Cerebral hemisphere: the main right and left parts of the brain are called the cerebral hemispheres. The left hemisphere usu­ally controls the right side of the body. The right hemisphere usual­ly controls the left side of the body. Language is controlled by the left hemisphere in right-hand­ed people and also in about 50 per cent of left-handed people.

• Clopidogrel: a blood-thin­ning agent that can help prevent stroke.

• CT (computed tomo­graphy) scanner: the X-ray machine that can produce detailed pictures of the body. A brain CT scan can show the cause of stroke and exclude abnormal bleeding in the brain.

• Diabetes: a common condi­tion that causes abnormally high levels of sugar in the body. Often needs treatment by diet, special medication or insulin.

• Dipyridamole: a blood-thinning agent that can help pre­vent stroke.

• Dissection: an abnormal tear in the blood vessel wall that can cause strokes, especially if the blood vessel has been damaged by a sudden bang or pressure over the blood vessel. This can be a cause of a stroke after attempted strangulation or a sports injury.

• Dysarthria: a problem of producing the sounds of speech. This may merely be a slurring of speech but in severe cases can mean a total loss of speech (anarthria).

• Dysphasia: a problem of lan­guage production. Mild forms can cause word-finding difficulties, moderate dysphasia causes mud­dled words and phrases, and severe cases result in no language at all (aphasia). The term is also used for difficulty in understanding speech.

• Echocardiography: a de­tailed scan of the heart using ultrasound. A special probe is placed on the chest wall and the sound waves can be analysed to form pictures of the heart beating.

• Electrocardiogram (ECG): a recording of the electrical activity of the heart by attach-ing wires on the arms, chest wall and legs. A very common test after a stroke as heart disease is common in people with stroke.

• Haemorrhage: an escape of blood (abnormal bleed).

• Hemianopia: a loss of vision in part of the visual field. For example, some people with large strokes affecting the left side of the brain lose the ability to see to the right.

• Hemiparesis: a weakness affecting the arm and leg on the same side of the body as a result of problems with the brain or spinal cord (often abbreviated to ‘hemi’ by patients and medical staff).

• Indapamide: a mild diuretic (water tablet) to lower blood pressure.

• Infarct: permanent damage to body tissue (tissue death). A cerebral infarct is when part of the brain is irreversibly damaged by a blocked blood vessel.

• Intravenous: the method of giving fluids straight into the blood supply system of the body. The veins are the low-pressure blood vessels and are relatively easy to use.

• Ischaemic: tissue starved of a normal blood supply as a result of a blocked or narrowed blood ves­sel. Often leads to permanent dam­age, for example, a stroke in the brain.

• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): a sophisticat-ed scanning technique that uses a powerful magnet (rather than X-rays) and computer to produce detailed pictures of the body. People with metal implants (for example, an intracranial aneurysm clip or a pacemaker) cannot be scanned because the magnetic field is so powerful that it can dislodge the metal.

• Migraine: a common med­ical condition characterised by flashing lights, feeling sick, a throbbing one-sided headache and an overwhelming need to lie down in a darkened room. Can be very mild or very severe. Very occasionally a severe attack can cause a stroke.

• Occupational therapist: a therapist who helps people do everyday activities such as wash, dress, eat, make meals and use the toilet.

• Oestrogen: a female hor­mone, used in the oral contracep­tive pill.

• Perindopril: a commonly used blood pressure-lowering tablet, which is also used to treat heart failure.

• Physiotherapist: a thera­pist who uses movement and exercises to help people recover from stroke and other disabling conditions.

• Primary intracerebral haemorrhage: an abnormal collection of blood in the brain resulting from a burst blood vessel (artery). The second most common cause of stroke.

• Progestogen: a female hor­mone, used in the oral contracep­tive pill.

• Pulmonary embolism: a blood clot which travels to the lung and damages part of it. This can be a complication of stroke, especial­ly if there has been a leg thrombosis. Potentially very serious and can result in death.

• Randomised: the method of allocating clinical trial treat­ments in medical research. This makes sure that the doctor and patient do not cheat and choose the treatment themselves.

• Seizure: an electrical storm in the brain often causing loss of consciousness, abnormal muscle twitching, abnormal behaviour and a short period of excessive sleepi­ness (or varying combinations of the above). Epilepsy is the term given to a condition with frequent attacks. A single attack can occur with the onset of stroke and stroke is the most common cause of epilepsy in older people.

• Simvastatin: a tablet from the ‘statin’ group of cholesterol-lowering pills used to treat patients with heart attacks and strokes

• Social worker: a member of the stroke team with expertise in financial matters (for example, benefits), local services to care for patients after hospital discharge (for example, home care and meals on wheels), and assessing whether people need contin­uing care in residential or nursing homes. In the UK, social workers are usually employed by the local council, although they are often based within the NHS hospital.

• Speech and language therapist: a member of the stroke team with special expertise in assessing communication and language. They have also developed a very important role in assessing the safety of the swallow mecha­nism and help to advise the nursing team on the best feeding methods for patients with stroke.

• Statins: a class of cholesterol-lowering pills, which will be increas­ingly used to treat patients with stroke

• Stroke: a sudden onset of loss of neurological function (for example, weakness affecting arm and leg, speech problem), with symptoms that last more than 24 hours, resulting from a problem with the blood supply to the brain.

• Subcutaneous: the meth­od of giving fluids into the body by allowing the body to absorb the fluid from under the skin. A really useful way of giving people extra fluids with few side effects.

• Thrombolytic therapy: powerful blood clot-dissolving treat­ment. The main treatment for heart attacks and a promising treatment for some strokes. Unfortunately, it can cause severe bleeding in some people and more research will be needed to check that this type of treatment should be used. Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) and streptokinase are the most commonly used thrombolytic agents in the UK.

• Ticlopidine: a blood-thin­ning agent which can prevent stroke. It is only rarely used in the UK because of important side effects on the blood. Needs to be carefully monitored with frequent blood tests.

• Transient ischaemic attack (TIA): a mini-stroke with symptoms that fully recover in less than 24 hours (often recover within seconds or minutes). Can be a warning that a more severe stroke is about to happen. Should be assessed by your doctor.

• Transient monocular blindness: see Amaurosis fugax.

• Transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE): a special heart scan by using sound waves from a tube placed in the oesophagus (gullet). Needs a skilled person to place the tube in the correct place and the patient usually requires a mild sedative or throat spray.

• Warfarin: a commonly used tablet to thin the blood. Very use­ful for preventing strokes but can cause abnormal bleeding.