Bøger af Gupta Anuradha

Globally cerebrovascular disease (stroke) is the second most important cause of death(WHO, 2008). The word "stroke" itself depicts the manner in which this disorder oftenoccurs to a person. As aptly noted by Stein (2004), a person who is dynamic andindependent person is "struck down" (p.1). Stroke is an abrupt, life-changing incidentthat often gives no caution of its approach. Almost every survivor of stroke has beencaught unaware and it has changed the life of the survivor forever. Duncan,Blankenship, & Bitensky (2009) have noted that stroke can lead to a range ofneurological impairments and medical problems. They have added that constraints inactivities of daily living (ADLs) and reduced quality of life (QoL) are other majoroutcomes of stroke. Based on the progress in the diagnosis, treatment and therapies forstroke in the present day from the time when its occurrence was related to theHippocratic concept of disparity in the "humours", it can be argued that knowledgeabout stroke has come a long way (Edlow, 2008).Stroke has been defined by WHO (2005b) as a "focal (or at times global) neurologicalimpairment of sudden onset, and lasting more than 24 hours (or leading to death), andof presumed vascular origin (p.4)". As per this definition; stroke has its genesis in thevascular system referring to the blood vessels of the body, it occurs rapidly and lasts fora time period of more than twenty hours. Injury of the nervous tissues and even death ofthe patient has been reportede3 in many cases. A stroke or brain attack occurs whencells in the brain die due to insufficient flow of blood. While 80 per cent of the strokesare caused by the blockage of an artery in the neck or brain; the rest are caused by aburst blood vessel in the brain that causes bleeding into or around the brain.