Cerebrovascular Disease

Introduction/Overview

Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) or Cerebrovascular Infarction is a disease affecting the blood vessels which supply the brain and is caused by a stroke or brain disoder due to:

1. Narrowing or blocking of blood vessels caused by fatty accumulation and/or clot formation leading to disruption of oxygenated blood supply to a portion of the brain.

2. Bleeding either within the brain tissue (called cerebral hemorrhage) or bleeding within the coverings of the brain (called subarachnoid hemorrhage) caused by rupture of blood vessels in the brain.

The blockage can be transient (short lived) or permanent leading to an Ischemic Stroke and the hemorrhage leads to Hemorrhagic Stroke (1) & (2).

It is important to note that strokes are the third leading cause of death in the US. Annually, more than 700,000 Americans suffer from stroke of which about 500,000 are first time attacks and 200,000 are recurrent. About 25 percent of patients recover from stroke but are at risk of recurrence in the next five years (3).

Article by Kona Vishnu, MS
Medical Writer,
OmniMedicalSearch.com

Diagram of atherosclerosis - plaque build up in the arteries which can lead cerebrovascular disease, strokes, coronary artery disease and angina.

Cross cut diagram of cholersterol plaque build up in the artery.

CT scan slice of the brain showing a right-hemispheric ischemic stroke (left side of image).

Cerebral angiograph of left common carotid artery showing contrast dye. See Tests for more information.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) used to monitor brain activity and aid in detecting cerebrovascular disease. See Tests for more information.

Stent's like this one are inserted into arteries to help keep them open, allowing blood to flow.

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