What are the symptoms of acute cerebral infarction?

Cerebral infarction is one of the diseases that middle-aged and elderly people are most likely to suffer from. As their bodies gradually age, the strength of their blood vessels decreases, and the fat content in their blood increases, making blood vessel blockage more likely to occur. The brain is a part of the body with a dense network of blood vessels. Therefore, it is easy to form a blockage in the blood vessel network in the brain. This is the origin of cerebral infarction. Severe cerebral infarction can cause patients to have more serious symptoms, which poses a great threat to life safety. It is one of the important causes of death in middle-aged and elderly people. Therefore, people should strengthen their understanding of cerebral infarction. Let’s take a look at the symptoms of acute cerebral infarction.

(1) Onset is sudden, often during rest or sleep, and peaks within a few hours or 1 to 2 days.

(2) Headache, dizziness, tinnitus, hemiplegia, which may affect a single limb or one side of the body. The upper limbs may be heavier than the lower limbs or vice versa. There may also be difficulties in swallowing, slurred speech, nausea, vomiting, etc. In severe cases, the patient quickly falls into a coma. Each patient may have several of the above clinical manifestations.

(3) The significance of brain CT examination: Brain CT examination can show the size and location of cerebral infarction lesions with an accuracy rate of 66.5% to 89.2%, and the accuracy rate of early cerebral hemorrhage is 100%. Therefore, early CT examination can help in differential diagnosis and exclude lesions such as cerebral hemorrhage, which is very important. The treatment of early-stage cerebral hemorrhage and cerebral thrombosis is completely different. When cerebral infarction occurs within 24 hours, or the infarct focus is less than 8 mm, or the lesion is in the brainstem and cerebellum, brain CT examination often cannot provide a correct diagnosis.

(4) Patients with lacunar infarction may be asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. The disease may be discovered during a brain CT scan due to other diseases. Some of the lesions are old and this situation is more common in the elderly. Patients often suffer from chronic diseases such as hypertension, arteriosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease, and diabetes. Lacunar infarction can recur. Some patients eventually develop symptomatic cerebral infarction, while some patients' conditions remain stable for many years. Therefore, we should pay attention to "silent stroke" in the elderly and take a positive attitude towards prevention.