Stroke: Cerebrovascular disease

Cerebrovascular diseases include many pathological conditions but the principal categories are (1) infarction—through occlusion of major arteries, small arteries or venous sinuses; and (2) haemorrhage—most often through rupture of small arteries, arterial aneurysms, or capillaries. Strokes are common, with annual incidence rates for subjects aged over 55 ranging from 420 to over 1,000 per 100,000. They are the most important case of disability in developed Western nations and the second most frequent cause of death after coronary heart disease. About 80% of strokes are caused by cerebral infarcts, with the remainder due to haemorrhage, with 20% of these attributable to a bleeding cerebral aneurysm. The annual incidence of transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs) is about 50–100 per 100,000.