Secondary Stroke Prevention - Recent Advances: B Vitamins and Cerebral Ischemia

Unmasking the benefits of B vitamins in stroke prevention.

Advances in the Acute Treatment and Secondary Prevention of Stroke

Stroke continues to be the leading cause of disability in industrialized nations and is one of the most difficult therapeutic challenges for physicians. Developments in neuroimaging and other diagnostic tests have improved our ability to identify and localize ischemic brain lesions and clarify their underlying etiologies. Until recently, however, physicians had no effective means of treating ac...

B-vitamins and prevention of dementia.

Elevated plasma homocysteine (Hcy) concentrations have been implicated with risk of cognitive impairment and dementia, but it is unclear whether low vitamin B12 or folate status is responsible for cognitive decline. Most studies reporting associations between cognitive function and Hcy or B-vitamins have used a cross-sectional or case-control design and have been unable to exclude the possibili...

Recent Advances in Stroke Genetics

Stroke is a complex, polygenic, and multi-factorial neurological disorder caused by a combination of environmental, vascular and genetic factors [1]. Despite new developments in the treatment and prevention, stroke accounts for the primary cause of adult disability, the second leading cause of dementia and the third leading cause of mortality in most of the developed countries [2], [3]. In the ...

Secondary prevention of stroke.

Stroke has been defined as a rapid onset of focal neurological deficit lasting more than 24 hours, with no apparent cause other than disruption of the blood supply to the brain (World Health Organization, 1989). A transient ischaemic attack (TIA) refers to a similar presentation that resolves within 24 hours (Hankey and Warlow, 1994). Approximately 15% of strokes are haemorrhagic, with the rest...