Israeli researchers have discovered a phenomenon that may help explain who is at risk for suffering multiple strokes. The findings of the Israeli scientists were first reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association in July of this year.
According to a study conducted by Dr. Jonathan Y. Streifler, director of the Neurology Unit at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, along with Drs. Michael Eliasziw, Oscar R. Benavente, Sonia Alamowitch, Allan J. Fox, Vladimir Hachinski, and Henry J. M. Barnett, leukoaraiosis - the scattered loss of white matter in the brain - is associated with repeat strokes, particularly lacunar strokes (those occurring deep inside the brain).
According to the study, the first of its kind, found that people who developed leukoaraiosis were 1.5 times more likely to have a stroke than others and almost two times as likely to have more than one stroke. Hence, one reason that multiple strokes seem to be associated with age is that many elderly people suffer leukoaraiosis and other changes in white matter of the brain more than young people. The study was part of a larger study spanning the United States, Canada, Israel, Australia and Europe. Previous findings showed no link between leukoaraiosis and the severity of narrowing of the arteries supplying the brain, according to the online Stroke Journal Report.
According to a study conducted by Dr. Jonathan Y. Streifler, director of the Neurology Unit at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, along with Drs. Michael Eliasziw, Oscar R. Benavente, Sonia Alamowitch, Allan J. Fox, Vladimir Hachinski, and Henry J. M. Barnett, leukoaraiosis - the scattered loss of white matter in the brain - is associated with repeat strokes, particularly lacunar strokes (those occurring deep inside the brain).
According to the study, the first of its kind, found that people who developed leukoaraiosis were 1.5 times more likely to have a stroke than others and almost two times as likely to have more than one stroke. Hence, one reason that multiple strokes seem to be associated with age is that many elderly people suffer leukoaraiosis and other changes in white matter of the brain more than young people. The study was part of a larger study spanning the United States, Canada, Israel, Australia and Europe. Previous findings showed no link between leukoaraiosis and the severity of narrowing of the arteries supplying the brain, according to the online Stroke Journal Report.