SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) -
When a stroke strikes every second counts.
There are two major kinds of strokes and the quicker doctors can figure out which one a patient suffered the better potential for a good outcome.
Every 40 seconds someone in the United States suffers a potentially life-altering condition.
There is what is called an ischemic stroke and there's what's called a hemorrhagic stroke. Seventy-three percent of all strokes are ischemic strokes," Nicole Shea, Stroke Program Manager at Mercy Medical Center said.
An ischemic stroke stops the circulation to the brain.
"That's where there's a blockage in the artery. It would either be a blood clot or a piece of cholesterol that goes up somewhere and then lodges in the brain," Shea said.
A hemorrhagic stroke is commonly known as a bleeding stroke.
"Those patients are very similar to traumatic brain injury patients they'll have the same kind of recovery time. Those kind of patients we won't know how 100 percent how they'll recover until the blood is absorbed and the swelling goes down," Shea said.
Nicole Shea serves as Stroke Program Manager at Mercy Medical Center. She shows up on the scene when a patient arrives at the emergency room.
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HEALTHBEAT4: Time is critical for stroke victims