My grandmother has ischemia in the right side of her brain. Will this eventually shut down other vital organs?

Question

She has lost a lot of cognitive function very quickly. In less than a week she has gotten to where she doesn't know who family members are and she is very concerned about numbers...dates, baseball scores, television channels, she keeps counting to 6 over and over.

Thank you all for any information you can help provide.

Answer 1

Cerebral ischemia.

The brain isn't getting enough blood; blood carries oxygen, so the brain isn't getting enough oxygen.

Because of not getting enough oxygen, brain cells die, one by one, but they die. If the iscemia is on the right side of her brain, I'd bet that her right carotid artery is close to completely blocked.

As far as shutting down other vital organs, the vascular condition which caused the ischemia (atherosclerosis, high blood pressure?) has been/ and is still likely to be affecting her other vital organs

There is no way to know how long this process may take; without knowing how compromised other organs are already?

Answer 2

Cerebral ischemia means your grandmother's brain is not getting enough oxygenated blood. There can be many reasons for this the most common would be blockages caused by plaques in the blood stream.

If the blockages are higher than the carotid arteries there is probably very little that can be done.

Ischemia is slowing killing off brain cells in your grandmothers brain depending on what parts of the brain is being affected will determine how she will respond and act. As you describe above is probably due to the areas most affected.


I am so sorry your family is going through this. There is probably little that can be done except to make comfortable.

Answer 3

What happens when a brain becomes ischemic is cells start dying. If this happens once in a specific location, that is the function you lose. If it continues to spread, like from a blockage of a large blood vessel, more brain will be involved. This could, could, lead to lose of function down the road