Cryptogenic Stroke: What You Don't Know CAN Hurt You.

"Lucky" is a word that may seem strange to use in the context of stroke, but if you are among those fortunate enough to have had the cause behind your stroke identified, then that word does, to some extent, describe you. 

Every year, more than 200,000 strokes in the U.S. are referred to as "cryptogenic strokes," meaning no one is sure why they happened. Why is this a problem? When you consider that the number one risk factor for having a second stroke is having had a previous one, AND that a second stroke is 16 times more likely to be fatal, it becomes clear that prevention is key to survival. Unfortunately, prevention is much more difficult to achieve if etiology of the original stroke is unknown. 

Because cryptogenic stroke is such a serious issue, the American Heart Association has recently launched the Cryptogenic Stroke Initiative to provide survivors with resources that can help them try to identify changes in health and prevent new strokes before they occur as well as to aid health care providers in diagnosing and caring for patients who have had a cryptogenic stroke. 

In efforts to help patients understand what symptoms or changes in health to watch for, the AHA has created a toolkit filled with information about possible causes of stroke, what happens when a patient has a stroke, what questions to ask the doctor, how to minimize chances of having another stroke, and resources patients can refer to for additional information.

Being familiar with changes that need to be brought to the attention of a physician can help a patient's health care team diagnose underlying conditions that may have caused the original stroke as well as help prevent new ones from occurring. 

How is your stroke team ensuring that cryptogenic stroke patients understand what to look for once discharged? Drop us a line and let us know!