Stroke and TIA

Global core

A sudden focal neurological deficit is a stroke until proven otherwise. Brain imaging must separate hemorrhage from ischemia before any treatment that affects clotting. Glucose is checked because hypoglycemia copies a stroke. The legal minute-window for thrombolysis or clot retrieval is a local protocol and is not stated here as a single worldwide number.

What stays the same

• A sudden focal deficit is a stroke until proven otherwise.
• A lytic drug before imaging can be given into a bleed.
• The legal time window is a local protocol, not one worldwide number.

1. Recognize. Sudden weakness, speech loss, visual loss, or a collapsed side of the face.
2. Reason. Time of onset, anticoagulation, and glucose change what is safe.
3. Prioritize. Airway and a falling consciousness outrank a clinic letter.
4. Act safely. Urgent imaging, glucose, and the local stroke pathway. Do not give a lytic drug before hemorrhage is excluded.

Local adaptation

No sourced local note is attached to this topic. That is not a statement that every country manages it the same way. The shared principle above is what this beta is willing to teach.

Exam lens

The next image, and what must be excluded before thrombolysis.