A Case of Cerebrovascular Accident

Anatomy and Physiology Case Study: A Case of Cerebrovascular Accident. Answers

1. Define the terms ischemia and infarction.

Ischemia is a lack of sufficient blood to a body part due to obstruction or constriction of a blood vessel. An infarction is a localized area of necrotic tissue, produced by inadequate oxygenation of the tissue.

Source is pg G-15 and G-16 in textbook.

2. What is a stroke? Describe the mechanism(s) by which strokes occur.

A stroke is when blood clots block an artery or a vessel, or a hemorrhage from a blood vessel in the pia mater or brain, or it can also be from a formation of cholesterol. When the blood clot blocks the artery or vessel it is blocking the passage way for blood to get to the brain. When this happens it causes brain cells to die and that is when brain damage occurs. There are two mechanisms that make a stroke happen. One is ischemia, which is a lack of blood to the body because of either an obstruction or constriction of a blood vessel. The second is an infarction which causes damage to the brain tissue because it interrupts connecting pathways which then cause localized pressure injury.

Source is http://www.stroke.org/site/PageServer?pagename=stroke

and pg 294 in textbook.

3. Define the term collateral blood flow, and describe how this and other factors affect the development of stroke.

Collateral blood flow is when another passage is made for blood supply when there is not enough blood getting to the heart. This affects the development of stroke because it helps slow down the risk of a stroke. If the collateral blood flow did not happen then a stroke would occur automatically, instead the collateral blood flow helps make a new passage way for blood to get to the heart when there is already a blood clot. This could help in the case that if the stroke took longer to occur then maybe a doctor could find it before it was to happen.

Source is...