Inherited Strokes

Filed in archive Heart and Stroke on May 11, 2007

My mother had numerous transient ischemic attacks or mini-strokes. One I remember well. We were sitting at the kitchen table talking, and suddenly her words were coming out all garbled. She had lost the ability to communicate. She died in her sleep of a stroke. This frightens me, because, apparently, in women, this runs in families, with close relationships, like mother and daughter.

An article from MUSC (Medical University of South Carolina) states:

The new study found that women who had strokes were 40 percent more likely to have at least one close relative who suffered a stroke than were men with strokes.

Having a mother who had a stroke was 80 percent more common in women stroke patients than in men.

LindyPop's Blog explains the difference between an ischemic stroke and a hemorrhagic stroke:

Strokes occur when blood flow to the brain is interrupted in one of two ways: the first and most common known as TIA or transient ischemic attack, occurs when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel or artery in the brain, and can last for just a few minutes or 24 hours and disappear without leaving any signs of permanent effects; the second and typically most debilitating is known as AIA, acute ischemic attack, or hemorrhagic stroke and occurs when a blood vessel or artery breaks and bleeds into the brain.