What is cerebral infarction

Cerebral infarction, also known as cerebral infarction, is the most common brain disease in today's society. Everyone should know what cerebral infarction is. There are already many people suffering from this disease, especially among the elderly. Once suffering from this disease, it will cause great harm to the patient. Sometimes, if the disease is serious, it will cause partial paralysis of the body, which is a great blow to the patient's life and mind.

What is cerebral infarction? This disease should be very familiar to everyone. People with this disease can be seen everywhere around us. This has a lot to do with our daily life. Living conditions have improved, but more and more people are suffering from various diseases.

Symptoms of cerebral infarction

(1) Thrombosis is more common in middle-aged and elderly patients with atherosclerosis, hypertension, diabetes and other diseases; while those caused by emboli often have signs of the disease from which the embolus originated, such as heart disease, especially atrial fibrillation, heart valve disease, etc.

(2) Patients with thrombosis often have transient ischemic attacks before, such as dizziness, vertigo, weakness on one side of the limbs, etc. The onset is slow, often occurring during sleep or quiet time. However, those caused by emboli usually have no prodromal symptoms, develop rapidly, and develop to the peak within a few minutes.

(3) There are less severe whole-brain symptoms such as impaired consciousness and intracranial hypertension. The main symptoms are signs of focal brain dysfunction, which vary according to the affected blood and bone sites: for example, ipsilateral monocular blindness and/or Horner's syndrome and contralateral hemiplegia in the case of internal carotid artery occlusion; contralateral complete hemiplegia, sensory impairment, ipsilateral hemianopsia, etc. in the case of middle cerebral artery occlusion; dizziness, nausea and vomiting, hoarseness, dysphagia, ipsilateral Horner's syndrome, ataxia, ipsilateral facial hypoesthesia and contralateral limb hypoesthesia or mild hemiplegia in the case of occlusion of the posterior inferior cerebellar artery.

(4) If the disease is caused by an embolus, in addition to signs in the brain, signs of embolism may also be seen in the skin, mucous membranes, retina, spleen, kidneys, heart, etc.

Patients with cerebral infarction often develop the disease when they are resting quietly. Some patients wake up and find that their mouth and eyes are crooked, they are hemiplegic, they are drooling, they drop rice grains when they eat, and they cannot lift their chopsticks. This is a cerebral infarction, which often catches people off guard. Only some patients have symptoms of transient cerebral ischemia before the onset of the disease, such as limb numbness, slurred speech, transient blacking out, dizziness or vertigo, nausea, and blood pressure fluctuations (which may be high or low). These precursor symptoms are generally mild, short-lived, and often ignored.

Causes of cerebral infarction:

1. Cardiogenic: accounting for 60%~75%, the common cause is chronic atrial fibrillation, the main sources of emboli are rheumatic heart valve disease, endocarditis vegetation and detachment of mural thrombus, as well as myocardial infarction, atrial myxoma, heart surgery, cardiac catheterization, mitral valve prolapse and calcification, congenital atrioventricular septal defect (venous paradoxical embolus), etc.

2. Non-cardiogenic: such as detachment of atherosclerotic plaques, pulmonary vein thrombosis or clots, fat embolism and air embolism during fracture or surgery, blood clots or thrombus detachment during intravascular treatment, etc.; fibromuscular dysplasia of the carotid artery (more common in women); lung infection, sepsis, and hypercoagulable state of nephrotic syndrome can cause cerebral embolism.

3. Unknown source: about 30% of cerebral embolism.

Treatment of cerebral infarction:

1. Acute Phase

The principle is to improve blood circulation in the ischemic area of ​​the brain as soon as possible and promote recovery of neurological function.

1. Relieve cerebral edema: For patients with large and severe infarction areas, dehydrating agents or diuretics can be used.

2. Improve microcirculation: Low molecular weight dextran can be used to reduce blood viscosity and improve microcirculation.

3. Thins the blood:

① Isovolumetric hemodilution therapy: venous blood removal and replacement of an equal amount of fluid at the same time;

② High-volume hemodilution therapy: intravenous injection of fluid that does not contain blood to achieve the purpose of volume expansion.

4. Thrombolysis: ① Streptokinase. ②Urokinase.

5. Anticoagulation: used to prevent thrombus extension and the occurrence of new thrombus. ①Heparin. ②Dicoumarin.

6. Vasodilator: It is generally believed that the effect of vasodilators is uncertain. For patients with severe increased intracranial pressure, it can sometimes aggravate the condition, so it is not recommended to use them in the early stages.

7. Others: This disease can also be treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, extracorporeal counterpulsation therapy and photon blood therapy, etc.

Everyone should be aware of what cerebral infarction is. We have seen many such patients in our daily lives. Whether they are relatives, friends, or neighbors, we should have seen some patients with cerebral infarction. Their lives will be greatly affected. Therefore, we should be able to actively prevent such diseases in our daily lives.