Stroke: causes and clinical features

Stroke is a clinically defined syndrome of acute, focal neurological deficit attributed to vascular injury (infarction, haemorrhage) of the central nervous system. Stroke is the second leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Stroke is not a single disease but can be caused by a wide range of risk factors, disease processes and mechanisms. Hypertension is the most important modifiable risk factor for stroke, although its contribution differs for different subtypes. Most (85%) strokes are ischaemic, predominantly caused by small vessel arteriolosclerosis, cardioembolism and large artery athero-thromboembolism.