The Stroke Unit

Every year, about 15,000 people in Israel suffer from strokes, with 2,000 of them in the Jerusalem area. After a person suffers a stroke, every minute without treatment means the loss of about 2 million brain cells. The time we have to treat the patient from the first stroke symptoms are up to four and a half hours for drugs-based treatment and eight hours for surgical treatment (urgent brain catheter). Invasive treatment is not always relevant for all patients.

here are two types of stroke:

1. Ischemic, either a result of a sudden blockage in one of the blood vessels carrying blood to the brain or in the brain, following an accumulation of sclerotic residue on the blood vessel walls or a blood clot from the heart or one of the main arteries. These are 90% of stroke cases.

2. Hemmorhagic (bleeding), a result of a tear in one of the brain’s blood vessels causing blood to spill into the brain itself.

A Transient Ischemic Attack (or a mini-stroke), is an important warning sign that could predict a future stroke. In the weeks after such an attack, the patient is under greater risk of a more significant stroke.