Transient Ischemic Attack: Causes, Symptoms And Treatment

According to the data published by Centre for Disease Control and Prevention for 2007, heart diseases claimed more than 616,067 lives. The figure has caused the mean deaths per 100,000 population to go upto a figure of 204.3. The CDC maintains Rank 1 for the strokes as cause of death.

This means that in case a person has had more than one heart attacks, he is bound to die. Only few patients survive their second and third attacks but their body gets severely damaged.

Heart strokes do not give time to respond. However, in certain cases, the body signals a person via a mini attack. This is kind of a pre-stroke; medically it is called Transient ischemic attack (TIA). Under this condition, a body shows all the symptoms of that of a stroke but they only last for a few hours. There is no significant damage as such.

Causes of Transient Ischemic Attack
TIA is caused by a neurologic deficit. It means a sudden and significant decrease in the brain activity causing parts of brain to shut down. The reason behind this is considered to be lack of blood supply in a particular area of brain.

Superficially a stroke may seem to be similar than a TIA, they are different. A TIA does not kill tissues and cells in the brain. It only makes them inactive for the certain period of time. Brain Unlike from a stroke, a TIA does not cause brain tissue to die. that is why a TIA is hard to recognise via a CT scan or MRI tests, while an attack can easily be detected using the same methods of diagnosis.

The deficiency can be triggered by any of the following reasons:

• Clotting of blood is arteries supplying blood to the brain or from brain to other parts of the body.


• Blood loss due to an injured vessel or narrowing walls of the vessels.


• Irregularity of heart beats


• Certain diseases that cause thickening of blood


• Spasm in the smaller brain tubes

Symptoms of a Transient Ischemic Attack
Most of the symptoms for a TIA and a heart stroke are similar. However, symptoms disappear within 24 hours of the attack. The common symptoms are:

• Feeling of weakness in facial muscles


• Feeling numb on the left side of the body


• Sudden blurriness and loss of vision


• Sudden memory loss


• Difficultly in holding things


• leakage of urine/loss of control over excretion

Treatment of a Transient ischemic attack
The treatment is pretty simple. It works on the principle of stopping the damage by delaying a stroke or all together preventing the stroke from happening.

One needs to avoid consumption of alcohol and reduce smoking in case of an attack. If the attack is severe then the patient would require urgent admission into a hospital where his symptoms would be controlled. This would be followed by 48 hours of observation to make sure than an actual stroke does not occur. Studies show that almost 95 percent of patients suffer from an actual stroke within one year of a TIA.

Medications include chemical compounds that cause the blood to lose its viscosity. This enables easy flow and less pressure on arteries and veins. Prescriptions would also contain medicines for other symptoms such as loss of control over muscles and vision.

One would need to follow a strict diet so that his heart is not subjected to any pressure and blood is pumped normally throughout the body.

In certain cases where arteries and nerves get blocked due to clotting, Doctors perform a surgery. This surgery replaces the clogged nerves and arteries with nerves from other parts of the body.

Medicines greatly reduce the risk of a TIA. One such medicine is Aggrenox, which is known to be effective in controlling clotting of blood and maintaining even blood flow within the body.