Stroke-Related Dementia Glossary of Terms

1. Understanding Stroke Slideshow Pictures
2. Take the Stroke Quiz
3. Slideshow: Atrial Fibrillation Causes, Tests, and Treatment

Abnormal: Outside the expected norm, or uncharacteristic of a particular patient.

Aging: The process of becoming older, a process that is genetically determined and environ...

Alzheimer's disease: A progressive degenerative disease of the brain that leads to dementi...

Angiography: A procedure performed to view blood vessels after injecting them with a radio...

Antidepressant: Anything, and especially a drug, used to prevent or treat depression.

Antidepressants: Anything, and especially a drug, used to prevent or treat depression.

Antihypertensive: Something that reduces high blood pressure (hypertension).

Anxiety: A feeling of apprehension and fear, characterized by physical symptoms such as pa...

Artery: A vessel that carries blood high in oxygen content away from the heart to the far...

Aspirin: Once the Bayer trademark for acetylsalicylic acid, now the common name for this a...

Atherosclerosis: A process of progressive thickening and hardening of the walls of medium-...

Atherosclerotic: Pertaining to atherosclerosis, the process of progressive thickening and ...

Binswanger disease: A form of dementia with blood vessel abnormalities in the deep white-m...

Bladder: A hollow organ in the lower abdomen that stores urine. The kidneys filter waste f...

Blood pressure: The blood pressure is the pressure of the blood within the arteries. It is...

Bowel: The small and large intestine.

Brain: The portion of the central nervous system that is located within the skull. It func...

Cardiovascular: Relating to the circulatory system, which comprises the heart and blood ve...

Cardiovascular disease: Disease affecting the heart or blood vessels.

Carotid: Pertaining to the carotid artery and the area near that key artery, which is loca...

Carotid artery: Either of the two key arteries located in the front of the neck, through w...

Carotid endarterectomy: Endarterectomy (a surgical procedure designed to clean out materia...

Cerebral: Of or pertaining to the cerebrum or the brain.

Cerebrovascular: Pertaining to the blood vessels and, especially, the arteries that supply...

Cerebrovascular disease: Disease of the blood vessels and, especially, the arteries that s...

Cholesterol: The most common type of steroid in the body. Cholesterol has a reputation for...

Cognitive: Having to do with thought, judgment, or knowledge.

Computed tomography: An x-ray procedure that uses the help of a computer to produce a deta...

CT scan: Computerized tomography scan. Pictures of structures within the body created by a...

Cure: 1. To heal, to make well, to restore to good health. 2. A time withou...

Dementia: Significant loss of intellectual abilities, such as memory capacity, that is sev...

Depression: An illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts and that affects the way...

Diabetes: Refers to diabetes mellitus or, less often, to diabetes insipidus. Diabetes mell...

Diagnosis: 1 The nature of a disease; the identification of an illness. 2 A ...

Doppler ultrasound: A form of ultrasound that can detect and measure blood flow. Doppler u...

Echocardiography: Echocardiography is a diagnostic test which uses ultrasound waves to m...

EEG: Electroencephalogram.

Electroencephalogram: A technique for studying the electrical currents within the brain. E...

Endarterectomy: An operation to clean out an artery and restore normal blood flow through ...

Geriatric medicine: The branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and pre...

Heart: The muscle that pumps blood received from veins into arteries throughout the body. ...

Heart disease: Any disorder that affects the heart. Sometimes the term "heart disease" is ...

Heart rhythm disorders: Abnormal rhythm of the heartbeat due to irregularities in transmis...

Hemorrhage: Bleeding or the abnormal flow of blood.

Hemorrhagic: Pertaining to bleeding or the abnormal flow of blood.

High blood pressure: A repeatedly elevated blood pressure exceeding 140 over 90 mmHg. Chro...

Hypertension: High blood pressure, defined as a repeatedly elevated blood pressure exceedi...

Indicate: In medicine, to make a treatment or procedure advisable because of a particular ...

Infarction: The formation of an infarct, an area of tissue death, due to a local lack of o...

Injury: Harm or hurt. To harm, hurt, or wound. The word injure may be in physical or emot...

Kidney: One of a pair of organs located in the right and left side of the abdomen. The kid...

Lesion: An area of abnormal tissue change. Lesions vary in severity from harmless to serio...

Liver: The largest solid organ in the body, situated in the upper part of the abdomen on t...

Memory: 1. The ability to recover information about past events or knowledge. ...

MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging.

Multi-infarct dementia: Dementia that is brought on by a series of strokes.

Neurological: Having to do with the nerves or the nervous system as, for example, a neurol...

Neurologist: A physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of th...

Neurology: The medical specialty concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders o...

NINDS: Stands for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, one of the ...

Nursing: 1) Profession concerned with the provision of services essential to the maintena...

Nursing home: A residential facility for people with chronic illness or disability, partic...

Operation: In medicine, a surgical procedure. Many operations are named after persons. The...

Oxygen: The odorless gas that is present in the air and necessary to maintain life. Oxygen...

Paralysis: Loss of voluntary movement (motor function). Paralysis that affects only one mu...

Peripheral: Situated away from the center, as opposed to centrally located.

Peripheral vascular disease: A disease of blood vessels outside the heart. Peripheral vasc...

Pharmacy: A location where prescription medications are sold. A pharmacy is constantly sup...

Plaque: 1. An semi-hardened accumulation of substances from fluids that bathe an a...

Platelet: An irregular, disc-shaped element in the blood that assists in blood clotting....

Protein: One of the three nutrients used as energy sources (calories) by the body. Protein...

Psychiatrist: A physician who specializes in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of m...

Psychosis: In the general sense, a mental illness that markedly interferes with a person'...

Recurrent: Appearing or occurring again. For example, a recurrent fever is a fever that ha...

Referral: The recommendation of a medical or paramedical professional. If you get a refer...

Risk factor: Something that increases a person's chances of developing a disease. For exam...

Rule out: Term used in medicine, meaning to eliminate or exclude something from considera...

Scan: As a noun, the data or image obtained from the examination of organs or regions of...

Sensation: In medicine and physiology, sensation refers to the registration of an incoming...

Sleep: The body's rest cycle.

Sleep disorders: Any disorder that affects, disrupts, or involves sleep. The most common...

SPECT: An acronym that stands for Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, a nuclear me...

Stress: In a medical or biological context stress is a physical, mental, or emotional fact...

Stroke: The sudden death of brain cells due to lack of oxygen, caused by blockage of blood...

Surgery: The branch of medicine that employs operations in the treatment of disease or inj...

Symptom: Any subjective evidence of disease. In contrast, a sign is objective. Blood comin...

Therapy: The treatment of disease. Therapy is synonymous with treatment.

Tomography: The process for generating a tomogram, a two-dimensional image of a slice or s...

Ultrasound: High-frequency sound waves. Ultra-sound waves can be bounced off tissues by us...

Vascular: Relating to blood vessels. For example, the vascular system in the body includes...

Vascular dementia: A common form of dementia in older persons that is due to cerebrovascul...

Vessel: A tube in the body that carries fluids. Examples of vessels are blood vessels and ...

White matter: The part of the brain that contains myelinated nerve fibers. The white matte...