Cerebrovascular Disease Introduction & Types

Conditions & Diseases: Cardiovascular System

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 stroke is 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).

Types of Cerebrovascular Diseases

Cerebrovascular diseases can be classified into three different types:

1. Ischemic Stroke: This stroke is caused due to clogging by fatty deposits called plaque on the walls of arteries which leads to blood clots for which there are two types:

a. Cerebral Thrombus: A clot that stays in place in the brain.

b. Cerebral Embolism: A clot that breaks loose and moves to the brain through the blood stream.

Other important causes of cerebral embolism include Arrhythmia (irregular heart rhythms), Endocarditis (infection of inner lining of heart), an abnormal heart valve and a mechanical heart valve. Patients with defective heart valves and mechanical heart valves are are often prescribed blood thinners (2) & (4).

2. Hemorrhagic Stroke: When small blood vessels in the brain become weak and burst, it leads to bleeding in the brain. The flow of blood after the rupture of blood vessels damages the brain cells (2). A hemorrhagic stroke can be further subdivided into two types:

a. Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: When the blood flows in the space between the brain and the skull.

b. Intracerebral Hemorrhage: This type occurs when an artery in the brain ruptures spilling blood into the surrounding brain tissue (5).

3. Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA): This is a temporary cerebrovascular event caused by a temporarily blockage of an artery and leaves no permanent damage (3).

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