Transient Ischemic Attack

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A Transient Ischemic Attack or TIA or mini stroke, is a temporary focal brain or retinal deficit caused by vascular disease the symptoms of which resolve themselves within 24 hours.

Stroke is a terrible event that causes death economic burden and great family sadness. Many survivors suffer from various levels of physical disability after the event. Let us take a quick look at some statistics regarding this medical condition.

STROKE FACTS

Estimated 600,000 new and recurrent cases of stroke each year
Leading cause of serious long-term disability
Approximately 4,5 million stroke survivors alive today, many needing full-time medical help and assistance.
Many cases of ischemic stroke could be avoided by aggressively controlling risk factors

Stroke is the third leading cause of loss today, and much could be done to reduce the the terrible statistics associated with this condition.
Approximately 25% of survivors of major ischemic stroke have reported a history of warning signs or symptoms such as Transient Ischemic Attack or TIA. In fact, a TIA or mini stroke establishes a person at substantial risk of stroke and as a warning sign it allows a physician to take steps before a major stroke occurs.

Transient Ischemic Attack symptoms are temporary, but ...

As mentioned above, the symptoms of a TIA will resolve themselves within 24 hours, however, most mini strokes last for less than 30 minutes and rarely longer than 1 hour.

Transient Ischemic Attacks or TIAs should be considered as a medical emergency and treated as such. Medical evaluation and initiation of stroke preventive therapies should be done as quickly as possible. In fact, a TIA is the single most risk factor for stroke. Medical estimates paint a rather gloomy picture and state that the cumulative risk for stroke ater a TIA is:

8% within first month
12% within first year
30% within 5 years

A part from medical therapies to control your risk of stroke, taking aggressive steps to control your risk factors can greatly reduce the overall risk. Please select the following link to visit our page outlining stroke risk factors. You will notice that many can be modified in your favour woth little to moderate effort.

Therefore, to summarize, even if the symptoms go away after a short period of time a Transient Ischemic Attack, TIA or mini-stroke should never be taken lightly.

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