Stroke – a Risk That Can be Controlled Stroke is a phenomenon impossible to ignore because of its frequency and serious consequences: death, disability, long and difficult recovery. Worldwide, it is one of the top causes of death and the leading cause of disability; annually is registered 15 million of these diseases, resulting in 5 million deaths and 5 million cases of disability. This means that in the world, one in ten deaths are caused by stroke. For example, in the U.S., annually, for a population of about 300 million occurs approximately 800,000 cases, of which 600,000 patients are the first event of its kind, and the rest have gone through a stroke, while death toll rises to 140,000. In other words, at 40 seconds produces a stroke and at four minutes a death because of it.

And if these statistics seem alarming, well, it seems that strokes are actually much higher! Indeed, besides the typical stroke – ischemic or hemorrhagic – with known neurological manifestations (paralysis, impaired speech or vision, severe headache) or transient ischemic attack (neurological symptoms disappear within a few minutes, maximum 60 minutes), there are silent strokes. It is produced by the same ischemic mechanism, but …