St. Luke's Primary Stroke Center has a dedicated stroke team staffed 24 hours a day to provide the level of care needed to improve patient outcomes. Along with specially trained personnel, our advanced technologies allow us to better meet the unique and specialized needs of our stroke patients. We have also developed our Stroke Partners Network as a way to provide hospitals throughout Texas with 24/7 access to our clinical stroke expertise.
Stroke Facts
In the United States alone:
Stroke Symptoms and Warning Signs
- Sudden numbness/weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
- Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
- Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes; double vision
- Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
- Sudden severe headache with no known cause
- Nearly 800,000 people a year suffer from a stroke.
- A stroke occurs every 40 seconds.
- More than 150,000 people a year die from a stroke or stroke-related causes.
- Nearly one out of every 16 Americans will die from a stroke.
- Strokes are the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of illness-related disability.
- Women experience more strokes than men annually.
- Those at greatest risk for having a stroke are those who have had a previous stroke.
Time is critical in diagnosing and treating strokes. There are three types of strokes, all of which require immediate medical treatment.
Ischemic Stroke
Ischemic strokes account for more than 80 percent of all strokes in the United States and occur when blood supply to the brain is decreased or cut off, typically by a blood clot or plaque build up in the vessels.
Intracranial Hemorrhagic Stroke
An intracranial hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures. This lets blood spill into nearby brain tissue, which damages the cells. Other brain cells die because their normal blood supply is cut off. This type of stroke accounts for approximately 10 percent of all strokes.
Subarachnoid Hemorrhagic Stroke
A subarachnoid hemorrhage is a devastating disease that accounts for less than 10 percent of all strokes, but takes the lives of five percent of all stroke victims. This type of stroke occurs when blood escapes from vessels and enters the subarachnoid space of the brain where cerebrospinal fluid circulates around the brain and spinal cords and into the ventricular system.
