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A Brief Accident : A Cerebrovascular Accident ( Cva ) Is The Medical Term For What?

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Cerebrovascular Accident
A Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA) is the medical term for what is more commonly known as a stroke. A stroke can range from very mild to severe and even life threatening. When a stroke occurs, no matter how severe, it means there has been an episode of inadequate blood supply to a particular region of the brain. Having a stroke does not necessarily mean that other organs will be affected, however, there is that chance. For example, if the stroke occurs to the part of the brain that sends and receives signals to the phrenic nerve, the performance of the diaphragm can be greatly altered. If the vagal nerve is affected, the patient could experience a drastic drop in heart rate and blood pressure. There are two major …show more content…

Arm: If a person holds both arms out, does one drift downward? Speech: Is their speech abnormal or slurred? Time: It’s time to call 911 and get to the hospital if any of these symptoms are present” (Ellis, 2016). Upon admission to the hospital or doctor’s office, the physician should have several diagnostic tests performed to confirm or rule out a stroke and to see the extent of damage caused if there was, in fact, a stroke. The doctor should immediately order blood work in the interim while the patient is waiting to have more in-depth tests performed. The lab tests should include tests such as: blood glucose (Hypoglycemia may mimic stroke), electrolytes to access kidney function, complete blood count (CBC), cardiac markers, prothrombin time (PT), international normalized ratio (INR), and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) (Jauch, et al., 2013). More blood work may be ordered if the patient has history of other chronic diseases or risk factors to other chronic diseases. In addition to the initial blood work, the physician may order more tests to further investigate the cause and extent of damage. These tests include but are not limited to: angiogram (dye added to blood followed by x-ray), vessel ultrasound (to check for abnormal blood flow to brain), computed tomography scan (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), echocardiogram, and electrocardiogram (EKG). Though, the MRI is more sensitive to abnormalities, the CT is still the most

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