Minimizing Stroke Risk With Stroke Screenings

By Author: Katherine Roberts
Total Articles: 28
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Despite the age or gender, anyone can have stroke. This sort of a brain attack occurs when the blood flow to a part of the brain stops even for just a few seconds. Once the brain is deprived of blood and oxygen, brain cells die and eventually result to a permanent damage. There are various risk factors for stroke and the occurrence of this can be minimized if a person undergoes stroke screenings.

There are treatable diseases as well as lifestyle factors that increase the risk of stroke. Included here are hypertension, high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, diabetes, smoking, excessive drinking, and obesity.

There are actually two types of stroke. The first one is a result of a blood clot in the blood vessel therefore hindering the flow of blood into the brain. This is called ischemic stroke. It has two sub-types: thrombotic, wherein a clot appears in an artery that is already thin and tapered, and the second one is embolic, wherein the clot may appear somewhere else in the blood vessel and later reach up to the brain.

The two types of brain attack are caused by varying factors. Ischemic occurs ...
... due to blocked arteries which is often a result of excessive fat, cholesterol, and other substances that form a plaque that drapes the artery walls.

The second type of stroke is referred to as hemorrhagic stroke. People who have blood vessel deficiencies are likely to suffer from this. In this type, a person’s blood vessel in part of the brain turns frail and eventually ruptures and disintegrates, and therefore leads blood to seep out into the brain.

It is important to immediately determine if a person is likely to have stroke. This is where stroke screenings come to the picture. This procedure is simple, painless, and non-invasive. Just like an ultrasound, the patient will be asked to lie on the exam table wherein a gel will be applied to his neck to aid the doctor or the technologist in moving the transducer around that area to view images of the arteries and blood vessels. This screening will aid the medical expert in analyzing the rate of blood flow within the vessels.

Doppler color flow ultrasound technology is used to measure the amount of plaque formation in the arteries as well as the speed of blood flow. Through this examination, the risk of suffering brain attack will be categorized within normal range, mild risk, moderate risk, and other findings of possible significance. Such preventive health screening is very important to detect apparent symptoms and determine possibility of experiencing stroke.

The prices of this procedure can vary sometimes but generally they are affordable. It is important for people to scout different health screening options to see where they can save the most. Searching also allows them to find the best hospitals and diagnostic laboratories within their area of residence so they can drop by anytime with great convenience.

For those people who have insurance, be informed that most insurance providers would not cover the cost for stroke screenings specially if the examination showed no symptoms. The fact that 80% of people who suffer brain attack did not show prior symptoms would make it difficult for those insured to get coverage for this procedure. However, there are also community-based health screenings that are available and can be cheaper.