After a stroke many people complain that their brain capacity is just "not the same". They simply aren't as "quick witted as they used to be", and they forget names more easily. Though there is no miracle cure for that feeling of slow mental function, and NO medicines that can help, there is one thing you can do to sharpen your mind: Exercise. Yes, plane old exercise will surely make your brain work better.

This is a concept that over the years has been tested over and over again, and time and time again it shows positive results. Exercise makes blood flow faster through your brain, bringing essential nutrients, and removing the harmful toxic byproducts of your brain's metabolism a lot more frequently - yes, you brain makes a whole lot of toxic waste just by thinking, and having an inefficient clean-up system is a sure way to worsen your brain function over time. I strongly recommend a book called "Brain Rules", by Dr John Medina, who quite nicely summarizes the research that has made this concept evolve over the years in his first chapter.

Other recommended reading
Long Term Effects of Stroke Six Ways to Stay Stroke Free Blood Thinners and Their Side Effects

By definition a TIA is a brief episode of a given neurological abnormality that resolves on its own, and by definition, TIA sufferers recover completely within a few minutes (or a few hours, at the most). No big deal then, right? Actually this is a big, big deal as the studies have shown over and over again that a TIA is a warning sign that a stroke is about to happen. And the problem is that patients and many medical professionals fail to acknowledge the significance of the event.

This is why a key aspect in the care given to TIA patients is performing a full medical workup rapidly after the TIA occurs. This is done with the intention of looking for potential sources of stroke, such as blood clots inside the heart, cholesterol plaques in the carotid arteries, and atherosclerotic plaques inside the intracranial vessels.

And not surprisingly, stroke hospitals (those with stroke units) appear to be betteional hospitals at doing this. This is probably due to the presence of stroke experts in their facilities, which guarantees that patients with TIAs undergo rapid and thorough testing. This was shown in a recent article in the Medical Journal of Australia

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Recommended Reading:
Difference between TIA and Silent Stroke
What is a TIA
Stroke Symptoms
Stroke Hospitals

Stroke in pregnancy is an extremely rare event. However, when it occurs, it does in the context of high blood pressure, sinus thrombosis, or reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome (RPLS). Yet another cause is the Call Phleming syndrome, in which areas of blood vessels suffering from severe vasoconstriction cause bleeding in the brain.

And the usual suspects also tend to increase the risk of stroke in pregnancy. Thus, women who smoke, who are older, or who already suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol, tend to have an increased risk of stroke during pregnancy.

Recommended reading
What is a stroke?
What is a mini stroke?
Stroke Risk Factors

When a blood vessel becomes narrow due to atherosclerosis, doctors sometimes can re-open it by performing an endovascular procedure in which a "stent", a small metal device, is placed in the area of narrowing in order to improve or reestablish the blood flow. This has been done in the heart and in the carotid arteries, which bring blood to the brain, for many years with great results. But doctors have been shy to place stents inside vessels that course through the brain (i.e., intracranial blood vessels) due to a dearth of studies about safety and efficacy of the procedure. Presently there is a trial to assess whether intracranial stents are superior to medical management after narrow vessel has caused a stroke.

Now I am happy to report that a new retrospective study by investigators at the NIH has identified some risk factors for poor outcomes after an intracranial stent procedure. This is important going forward as it will help identify those people who can benefit or be harmed from intracranial stenting procedures. The major risk factors identified included "posterior circulation" procedures, which refers to a group of blood vessels in the back of the brain. Interestingly, the hospital where the stenting procedure is performed also influenced the outcome so that hospitals where these procedures are not so common have worse outcomes. Another important factor was the timing of the stent placement, with worse outcomes when the procedure was performed fewer than 10 days after the event that prompted the decision to place it in the first place (e.g., stroke, tia, etc). Finally, people did worse when stroke was the reason for stenting.

Overall, the rate of stroke or death at 30 days was 9.2%. You can see more about this study in the original article, which is now published in the journal Neurology

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Recommended reading:
What is a Stroke?
Blood Thinners for Stroke
What is a Mini Stroke?