Blood Tests For Stroke
Author: Allan Wilson
Website: http://www.findhealtharticles.com/new/
Added: Sat, 08 Dec 2007 01:01:44 -0500
Category: Mens Health
Views: 75

The stroke is the serious condition of body caused due to highly reduced or interrupted blood supply to the brain. Due to inadequate supply of oxygen and nutrients, the brain cells start to die. It is caused due to embolism, hemorrhage or thrombosis. The stroke can cause sudden weakness or paralysis of the arm, leg and face, difficulty in speaking, blurred or double vision, loss of balance, loss of co - ordination, sudden dizziness, unusual headache, facial pain, vomiting and altered consciousness. The stroke should be considered as the medical emergency. Quick diagnosis is very necessary for getting proper treatment.

There are different methods of diagnosis of diagnosis of the stroke such as the physical examination, blood tests, CT scan, MRI scan, carotid ultrasonography, echocardiography and arteriography. The blood tests for stroke are done for detecting the high cholesterol levels, raised levels of amino acid homocysteine and diabetes.

Some of the commonly used blood tests are for the emergency evaluation of stroke. They include the complete blood count, coagulation tests, blood chemistry tests and blood lipid tests. The complete blood count is done to determine the number of white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. Hemoglobin and hematocrit are the measures of the number of RBCs. The complete blood count is used for the diagnosis of anemia or infection.

The coagulation tests include Prothrombin time, Partial Prothrombin time and International Normalized Ratio. These tests measure the rate of blood clotting. The abnormality can result in excessive clotting or excessive bleeding. The blood chemical tests determine the levels of normal chemical substances in the blood. The most important test in the evaluation of the emergency stroke is glucose level in the blood. Too high or too low glucose level in the blood can cause the symptoms that are similar to the stroke.

The detection of the fasting blood sugar helps for the diagnosis of diabetes which is a risk factor for the stroke. Other biochemical tests include the determination of serum electrolyte level. The blood lipid profile test is done for the detection of elevated cholesterol which is one of the risk factors for the heart disease and stroke.

Some of the blood tests done for the particular stroke situations are antinuclear antibodies, antiphospholipid antibodies, anticardiolipin antibodies, lupus anticoagulant, blood culture, coagulation factors, hemoglobin electrophoresis, syphilis serology, cardiac enzymes like Troponin - T, creatine kinase and LDH isoenzymes.

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