Intracerebral Hemorrhage: General Evaluation and Treatment As noted in Chapter 1, patients with intracerebral (intraparenchymal) hemorrhage (ICH) typically present with relatively abrupt onset of focal neurologic symptoms and signs that…
Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: General Evaluation and Treatment PATIENT EVALUATION The diagnosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) requires suspicion on the part of medical personnel in initial contact with the patient. Although the…
Major Cerebral Infarction: General Evaluation and Treatment GENERAL MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS Patients with acute stroke should be treated with the same sense of urgency as patients with an acute myocardial infarction…
Transient Ischemic Attack and Minor Cerebral Infarction General Evaluation and Treatment A transient ischemic attack (TIA) is defined as a temporary episode of focal neurologic dysfunction caused by cerebral ischemia…
Management of Acute Stroke in Critically Ill Patients While efforts are underway to determine the mechanism of acute cerebrovascular disease, the patient should be given supportive care to maintain general…
Laboratory Evaluation Laboratory and radiologic investigations allow anatomic localization of the cerebrovascular event and assist in the determination of its pathogenesis. Techniques that are available to aid the physician in…
Telephone Interview and Triage Although both the diagnostic evaluation and the initial care of many patients with acute cerebrovascular diseases are accomplished in the hospital, outpatient evaluation and treatment are…
Temporal Profile of Ischemic Cerebrovascular Diseases The general description of focal cerebral ischemic events is based on the patient’s temporal profile. The clinician should attempt to go beyond the profile,…
Differential Diagnosis Made Easy General Approach Differential diagnosis in cerebrovascular disease can be divided into ischemic and hemorrhagic disorders. After establishing that a condition is cerebrovascular and determining whether it…
Approach to the Comatose Patient Coma is a state of unarousable unresponsiveness (impairment of consciousness) in which the patient is unable to sense or respond noticeably to the environment. When…
