minor ischemic event

September 24, 2007 11:13 AM

What is a "minor ischemic event"? My mother had a CT scan, and the doc called and left a voice message saying everything's fine, schedule a follow-up appt at your convenience, which of course we will do. But the report says "minor ischemic event" and I'm wondering what that is.
posted by pipti to Health & Fitness (11 answers total)

A less than fatal blockage or reduction in blood flow to an area causing some damage due to oxygen starvation.
posted by Freedomboy at 11:17 AM on September 24, 2007

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ischemia
posted by fallenposters at 11:17 AM on September 24, 2007

Well, ischemia is a restriction of blood supply. Was the CT scan of the brain? The minor ischemic event could have been causes by atherosclerosis or thrombis. By minor, the radiologist is implying that it may not be signifigant, naturally. It was so small as not to cause negative effects? I am not a doctor.

You may want to read about Transient Ischemic Attacks.
posted by LoriFLA at 11:19 AM on September 24, 2007

thrombus
posted by LoriFLA at 11:21 AM on September 24, 2007

Response by poster: Yes, the CT scan was of the brain. There don't seem to be any negative effects. (or none that we can attribute to that, as there are a host of other medical problems as well.)
posted by pipti at 11:21 AM on September 24, 2007

Here is a page that may be useful for understanding some of the terms used.
posted by ikkyu2 at 11:29 AM on September 24, 2007

This is strictly anecdotal, but my dad was diagnosed with a minor ischemic event several years ago. He had obvious symptoms, though - he'd been outside in the front yard and then came into the house and asked whose red car was parked there. I looked out the window and saw it was my brother's car, which my dad had helped him purchase months earlier. "It's Kurt's car," I said. Dad looked out the window and said "When did he buy a Ford?" Now I was scared. "Um, a while ago...you were with him." Dad looked at me in confusion and then peeked out the window again. "Nothing out there looks familiar," he remarked. He went to the back of the house and looked out the window and said "Everything out here is OK." About 15 minutes later he was able to recall going to the Ford dealership, etc, and all was well. We called his doctor, he had an MRI and the diagnosis was a minor ischemic event. He's been fine ever since, but the doctor did have him come in every six months during the next year to get an EEG and an MRI.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:31 PM on September 24, 2007

Medstudent: basically what LoriFLA said, a transient ischemic attack is basically a mini-stroke. It's a reduction in blood supply that basically starves the tissue (same thing for angina of the heart). The tissue I believe will recover, which is not the case sometimes in a full blown stroke. The attack lasts less than 24 hrs (the side effects last less than 24 hrs) unlike a stroke.

The ischemia is usually due to atherosclerosis restricting the amount of blood flow. Strokes are due to either a thrombus/embolism (clot in the blood vessel/free floating clot in the circulation) or hemorrhage of the vessel (bleeding). (FYI) Hope this helps.
posted by uncballzer at 12:34 PM on September 24, 2007

ps--watch and monitor for complications in the future. This shows she's already got something going on, that just increases the risk for something major to come along not too soon from now (not trying to scare you, but just be prepared).
posted by uncballzer at 12:35 PM on September 24, 2007

Also related to the coolest medical school pimp term.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 1:10 PM on September 24, 2007

isn't it a very small stroke that doesn't leave consequences?
posted by matteo at 3:41 PM on September 24, 2007