TIA - Answers TIA symptoms resolve within 24 hours with no lasting damage; a stroke causes
lasting neurologic deficits.
Biggest risk factor for ischemic stroke - Answers Uncontrolled hypertension.
Purpose of a non-contrast CT in suspected stroke - Answers To differentiate between ischemic
and hemorrhagic stroke quickly.
NIHSS - Answers The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores stroke severity—higher
scores indicate worse outcomes.
Permissive hypertension in stroke care - Answers Allowing elevated BP to maintain cerebral
perfusion after ischemic stroke, avoiding rapid drops.
Signs of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) - Answers Sudden severe headache, photophobia,
neck stiffness, nausea/vomiting.
Triple H therapy - Answers To prevent vasospasm post-SAH: Hypertension, Hypervolemia,
Hemodilution.
Med used to prevent vasospasm after SAH - Answers Nimodipine (a calcium channel blocker).
Most common cause of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) - Answers Uncontrolled hypertension.
First sign of increasing ICP - Answers Decreased level of consciousness (LOC).
Agnosia - Answers Inability to recognize familiar objects; caused by nondominant hemisphere
damage.
Global aphasia - Answers Inability to understand or produce speech, from dominant hemisphere
stroke.
Difference between expressive and receptive aphasia - Answers Expressive = can't speak well;
Receptive = can't understand speech.
Locked-in syndrome - Answers Awake and aware but cannot move or speak due to paralysis;
may communicate with eyes.
Thiamine given before glucose in comatose patients - Answers To prevent Wernicke
encephalopathy, which can be worsened by glucose in thiamine-deficient states.
Key diagnostic test for Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) - Answers Lumbar puncture — shows
elevated protein with normal WBCs (albuminocytologic dissociation).
Treatment for Guillain-Barré Syndrome - Answers IVIG or plasmapheresis — steroids are NOT
effective.