My grandmother had a hemorrhagic stroke (a blood vessel in her brain ruptured) and she quickly went unconscious. When we took her to the hospital, the doctors told me she had a stroke along with something called "herniation" but that there was no hope and that she'd die within a day or two. Was there something about this particular kind of stroke that makes it particularly deadly? Why didn't they try to drain the blood from her head?
2006-09-14 11:58:43 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Medicine
"hemorrhagic" means that a blood vessel split open and blood spurted out. Sometimes the blood is under a lot of pressure as it goes through the vessels, so if a blood vessel splits, it could be like a tiny fire house blasting at the cells in the brain. Then the blood accumlates and presses against the brain. The place where the blood vessel was supposed to be taking the blood isnt getting any blood because of the leak, so that part of the brain could die from lack of blood.
Even if a surgeon could open up the patients head and fix the leak in the blood vessel, and remove the blood, there is probably a lot of damage to the brain cells. In a very healthy younger person, maybe the surgeon could fix things and the person could recover - it would take a long time though, and maybe they would not fully recover. In an elderly person, probably they would not be strong enough to survive the surgery, and they would not be able to return to health.
About the best thing you could say about this is, the person probably wouldnt feel any pain and would not suffer. Only those who are left behind and loved that person will suffer from the loss. I hope you can remember all the good times you had with your grandmother and not think too much about the way she was when she died. That is the way she would want it!
2006-09-14 12:40:17 · answer #1 · answered by matt 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When someone suffers from a hemorrhagic stroke (or to a certain degree from an embolic stroke also), the biggest immediate difficulty is the loss of oxygenation to the region of the brain where circulation is compromised. Tissue death leads to irreversible brain damage. In the case of the hemorrhagic stroke, the blood attempts to fill any vacant spaces inside of the brain. This leads to a dramatic increase in pressure inside of the brain and can lead to "hermiation" where brain tissue pushes through into spaces that it should not occupy, this can include the membranes that are inside of the head or the openings in the bones at the base of the skull. The act of herniation also generally causes additional brain damage and compounds the difficulty of the situation. Draining the blood would not be able to reverse the damage that was already done. My condolences on your loss.
2006-09-14 15:34:46 · answer #2 · answered by Gene Guy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
haemorragic stroke is quite deadly unlike embolic stroke in which a person has chances of surviving.in haemorrahic stroke a blood vessel ruptures cuttin off blood supply to a part of the brain, n unlike other cells in the body brain cells do not regenerate n die off.herniation is an after effect of stroke when the intra cranial pressure elevates causin the brain 2 shift causin serious complications.its a lot harder livin with a massive stroke than dyin with it.im extremly sorry for ur loss
2006-09-15 07:29:17 · answer #3 · answered by nicky 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Basically, the brain has been split open by an exploding blood vessel. You can't go in and fix this sort of thing in someone old. They would not survive the surgury. VERY invasive, and often deadly even in young healthy people
2006-09-14 12:00:42 · answer #4 · answered by cruachanmusic 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
other users have given detailed answer.... u must got some idea now....well dude its realy invasive if they had tried to drain that out n ur grangmother wud have died earlier with that....well i ahve seen patients getting well even after massive haemorrghes n even with small infarcts died ....n now i belive one cant predict anything abt brain patholgy....well humans r still unable to control it well........
realy sorry for ur grandmother. May her soul rest in peace.
2006-09-15 01:08:38 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm sorry I don't have the answer, but when I saw your question I just wanted to give my condolence, sorry for your loss.
2006-09-14 12:08:44 · answer #6 · answered by auntkarendjjb 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
yeah well it takes a while for systems to shut down. they can't fix it so they just made her comfortable until her body shut down.
2006-09-15 06:27:51 · answer #7 · answered by shiara_blade 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋