Educational scope notice: This is a study note for medical students, not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment guidance. Clinical management should follow local protocols and current guidelines.
Cerebrovascular disorders are conditions in which the brain’s blood supply fails. The failure can be occlusion of an artery, bleeding into brain tissue, bleeding over the brain surface, or blocked venous drainage. These presentations belong together because the same organ is at stake and the first clinical question is always which kind of failure is happening.
The family divides naturally by that question. Ischemic notes cover how occlusion presents, where it localizes, and how acute care and its safety gate work. Hemorrhagic notes cover bleeding into tissue and bleeding around the surface, each with a short companion on what happens next. A venous note covers clot on the drainage side, and a prevention note closes the loop after ischemia.
Choose a route through the topic
- Ischemic Stroke introduces arterial occlusion and how the first scan separates ischemia from bleeding.
- Territory Syndromes maps artery-to-deficit patterns for bedside localization.
- Transient Ischemic Attack explains why a resolved deficit stays an emergency.
- Stroke Management follows the acute pathway from arrival through reperfusion and unit care.
- Eligibility and Safety sets out the mimics, contraindications, and windows that gate reperfusion.
- Intracerebral Haemorrhage covers bleeding into tissue and how location shapes the syndrome.
- ICH Expansion and Reversal covers early growth, its imaging marker, and reversal pairings.
- Subarachnoid Haemorrhage traces aneurysm rupture from headache through diagnosis to securing the aneurysm.
- SAH Complications covers rebleeding, vasospasm with delayed ischemia, and hydrocephalus.
- Cerebral Venous Thrombosis covers clot in the sinuses and veins rather than an artery.
- Stroke Secondary Prevention sets out what prevents the next event after stroke or transient ischemia.
Start with ischemic stroke, then the transient warning, then management with its safety companion. Read each hemorrhagic note with its short companion, then the venous note, then prevention. Each companion extends its parent, so read the parent first.
Evidence anchors
- Powers WJ, et al. Guidelines for the early management of patients with acute ischemic stroke: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/str.0000000000000211
- Greenberg SM, et al. 2022 Guideline for the management of patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35579034/
- Hoh BL, et al. 2023 Guideline for the management of patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37212182/