What Is a “Silent” Stroke?

A stroke is a medical emergency that often leads to visible side effects, such as weakness on one side of the body or obvious difficulty with communicating. That is not always the case, though. There are times when a “silent” stroke can occur, one that may not show very obvious symptoms. They can be just as problematic and may create life-threatening conditions in some people.

What causes a silent stroke?

A silent stroke occurs when the blood supply traveling to the brain is suddenly cut off, often due to a blood clot. This causes a lack of oxygen to reach the brain cells, which die off in that particular area. This is the same cause as a traditional, more common stroke.

Some factors that may contribute to silent strokes, which are also contributions to other strokes, include:

• High blood pressure
• Blood clots
• Diabetes that’s uncontrolled
• Narrowed arteries
• High cholesterol

What makes this type of stroke difficult and particularly challenging is that it is hard to see because it may have no symptoms at all. Lacunar strokes, which impact the smaller blood vessels in the brain, are among the most common types of silent stroke.

Why wouldn’t a stroke show symptoms?

When a person suffers a stroke, the symptoms they have depend on the location of the brain impacted. If the stroke impacts the speech center of the brain, the symptoms exhibited tend to be those related to speech. In a silent stroke, the area of the brain impacted may not have a direct link to obvious symptoms. The disruption to the flow of blood occurs in an area of the brain that does not control any of the most noticeable symptoms, such as moving or communication.

Most of the time, a person will not know they had a stroke like this unless there is some deficiency experienced. They may show up, though, on an MRI or a CT scan. It is not likely that a doctor will run such a scan unless there is some belief that there is damage to the brain.

Does a silent stroke cause brain damage?

Any stroke causes damage. While the brain is a miraculous tool that can overcome and even heal from some damage, that may not be enough for all people. A silent stroke may impact just a small area, but it will impact that area in some way.

One particular concern is the risk of another stroke. A person who has had one stroke is most likely to have another stroke. If that occurs, the compounding factors will become obvious over time. There may be damage to multiple areas, or the second stroke may be a much larger version that creates life-threatening symptoms. A person who has had one stroke is also likely to suffer damage to the brain over time. Multiple silent strokes could cause damage such as:

• Memory problems
• Emotional issues, including crying or laughing
• Changes to the way a person walks
• The early onset of dementia-like complications
• Losing bowel or bladder control
• Trouble with focus or concentration
• Difficulty with making decisions

These are often missed signs, too, since they may be related to dementia or brushed off as a sign of old age.

How do you know if someone has suffered a silent stroke?

Suffering a silent stroke, as noted, has no outward symptoms like a traditional stroke. Yet, there may be a few ways to notice that something is not right, and that, in itself, could help to signal a need for help. Some examples include:

• Sudden onset of frequent falling
• Changes in balance
• Changes in mood that seem to have come on suddenly
• Changes in incontinence
• Concerns with the ability to think or process information

Specifically look at whether these signs have suddenly occurred. That could indicate that a person suffered a medical complication that requires further investigation.

Is a nursing home liable if a patient has a silent stroke?

This really depends on the situation, but consider a few examples of negligence playing a role in this. For example, if a person is taking blood thinners because they are at a higher risk of having a stroke, perhaps due to heart rhythm issues, and the nursing home has failed to provide them, that could be a medication mistake they are liable for making.

In addition to this, if the person has suffered from a lack of care or there have been obvious signs of mood changes, balance concerns, or other factors, the nursing home should seek out medical care for the individual. It may be possible to prove that a lack of monitoring health conditions including blood pressure or diabetes could have made a person more susceptible to the onset of strokes.

Every situation is vastly different. With the help of a nursing home neglect attorney, you can find out if there is any indication that negligence played a role in what happened to your family member.

Having a strong advocate on your family member’s side can help you pursue full and fair compensation for any losses sustained due to negligence. If your family member in a nursing home suffered a stroke, contact us to discuss why it occurred and what your legal rights may be. The nursing home neglect attorneys at Garcia & Artigliere are dedicated to providing residents and families with exceptional legal support. As a national firm, our offices are in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Long Beach, Louisville, and New Orleans.