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The term "Stroke"
corresponds to four possible western medical
conditions,... cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral
thrombosis, cerebral embolism, and spasm of
a cerebral vessel. Typically all four of
these conditions fall under the greater
classification of "Cerebrovascular
Accident," which is a pathologic state of
the blood vessels in the brain.
The sudden
neurological impairment caused by a cerebrovascular accident is technically
called "apoplexy" and is what we think of
when we imagine the terms true meaning of
stroke.
Defining
stroke symptoms further, it helps
to investigate the meaning of the four
variations of stroke.
- Cerebral
Hemorrhage: bleeding from an intracerebral
artery into the subarachnoid space.
- Cerebral
Thrombosis: total or partial obstruction
of a cerebral artery by a thrombus with
consequent infarction and anoxia of the
surrounding tissue. A thrombus is a blood
clot that forms in the lining of an artery
and remains attached to its place of
origin.
- Cerebral
Embolism: occurs when an embolus detaches
from a thrombus and occludes a cerebral
artery with consequent infarction and
anoxia of the surrounding cerebral tissue.
An embolus is a bubble of air or a piece
of a thrombus that detaches from it, and
travels along the arterial system,
eventually occluding an artery.
- Spasm of a
cerebral vessel: occurs when it
temporarily contracts. This may also be
due to a passing embolus which causes a
temporary narrowing or obstruction of it's
lumen and therefore temporary anoxia of
the surrounding cerebral tissue.
Stroke
Symptoms
There are two
main types of stroke symptoms
as defined by Chinese medicine which can be
caused by any one of the above types of
Cerebral Vascular Accident. The first is
considered the tense, or closed type, and is
referred to a "collapse of Yin." The
symptoms of stroke in this category
include: |
