What types of stroke are there?

There are 2 main types of strokes, ischemic and hemorrhagic. Ischemic strokes happen when blood vessels become blocked. Hemorrhagic strokes occur when blood leaks into the brain through a damaged or abnormal blood vessel.

A stroke can be categorized into one of 2 types: ischemic (due to blockage of an artery) or hemorrhagic (due to bursting of an artery). Ischemic strokes are the most common (85%), and of the hemorrhagic strokes, intracerebral hemorrhage is the most common, where there is bleeding into the substance of the brain due to bursting of an artery. Another type of hemorrhagic stroke is subarachnoid hemorrhage, which is most often due to bursting of an aneurysm that leads to bleeding in the fluid-filled space around the brain.

A stroke is the sudden interruption in the brain’s blood supply. It is sometimes called a “brain attack.” Most strokes are caused by blockage of the arteries leading to the brain, referred to an as ischemic stroke. This is the most common type, representing nearly 80 percent of all strokes and caused by a clot or other blockage.

Other strokes are the result of bleeding into the brain when a vessel ruptures, known as a hemorrhagic stroke. This type occurs quickly and demands immediate medical attention.

In an embolic stroke, a blood clot that forms somewhere in the body, most likely the heart, travels to your brain. The clot makes its way to a blood vessel in the brain and blocks its passage.

A thrombotic stroke is another type of blood-clot event where blood flow is impaired because of a blockage to one or more of the arteries within the brain supplying blood to the brain. The medical term for a clot that forms on a blood-vessel deposit is thrombus.