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What Are the Two Different Kinds of Strokes?

A stroke is a medical condition that occurs when a blood vessel in the brain is either blocked or actually bursts. Like the rest of the body, the living tissue of the brain needs oxygen to survive, and blood supplies this oxygen. If the body cannot deliver sufficient oxygen to the brain via blood vessels, portions of the brain will begin to die and areas of the body controlled by the damaged region of the brain will no longer function properly. Permanent damage from a stroke can take effect in a matter of minutes. There are two types of strokes: ishcemic and hemorrhagic.

  1. Ischemic Stroke

    • An ischemic stroke occurs when the blood supply to a portion of the brain is decreased. This leads to irregular functioning of this portion of the brain. There are two primary causes of an ischemic stroke. The first is thrombosis, which is another term for a blood clot. When a thrombosis obstructs a blood vessel, the blood flow can be limited or stopped altogether. The second cause is an embolism, which is a traveling particle within an artery that has traveled through the bloodstream from another region of the body. This particle typically forms in a larger vessel where it does not cause an obstruction and becomes lodged in the relatively smaller vessels of the brain.

    Hemorrhagic Stroke

    • A hemorrhage is a medical term for bleeding. A hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain leaks or breaks. Causes of this type of stroke include uncontrolled high blood pressure -- called hypertension -- or weak spots along the walls of the blood vessels -- called aneurysms. A rarer cause of hemorrhagic stroke is known as arteriovenous malformation, or AVM, which is a tangle of thin-walled blood vessels that are present at birth. The two types of hemorrhagic stroke are intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Intracerebral hemorrhage involves a blood vessel within the brain that bursts or leaks and spills into the surrounding tissue. Subarachnoid hemorrhage occurs when bleeding begins in an artery on or near the brain's surface, then spills into the area between the brain's surface and the skull.

    Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA)

    • A transient ischemic attack, or TIA, is a brief episode of stroke-like symptoms. Often called a mini-stroke, TIAs involve only a temporary blockage of bloodflow and, therefore, do not cause lasting tissue damage.

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