Short answers, pulled from the story.
The World Health Organization established a definition requiring neurological deficits to persist beyond twenty-four hours or result in death within that same window. This time frame separated true strokes from transient ischemic attacks which resolve completely before midnight of the first day.
Ischemic strokes involve blockage of blood flow causing brain tissue to stop functioning, while hemorrhagic strokes involve bleeding into the brain creating pressure that compresses surrounding tissue. Hemorrhagic strokes often cause loss of consciousness and vomiting due to increased intracranial pressure from leaking blood.
A CT scan without contrast shows ninety-six percent specificity for ruling out bleeding but detects only sixteen percent of ischemic strokes within the first three hours. MRI scans offer eighty-three percent sensitivity for early detection and one hundred percent specificity for identifying hemorrhage when performed correctly.
Chronic uncontrolled hypertension accounts for thirty-five to fifty percent of all stroke risk making blood pressure reduction a primary prevention goal. Smoking just one cigarette daily increases risk by more than thirty percent compared to non-smokers.
Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator improves functional outcomes without affecting mortality if administered within three hours of symptom onset. Thrombolysis worsens outcomes if given after four-and-a-half hours due to increased short-term mortality risks.