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Over 2,400 years ago, Hippocrates (460 to 370 BC) was first to describe the phenomenon of sudden paralysis, which we now know is caused by stroke. Apoplexy, from the Greek word meaning "struck down with violence,” first appeared in Hippocratic writings to describe stroke symptoms.
In 1658, in his Apoplexia, Johann Jacob Wepfer (1620–1695) identified the cause of hemorrhagic stroke when he suggested that people who had died of apoplexy had bleeding in their brains. Wepfer also identified the main arteries supplying the brain, the vertebral and carotid arteries, and identified the cause of ischemic stroke when he suggested that apoplexy might be caused by a blockage to those vessels.
Hippocrates, the father of medicine, first recognized stroke over 2,400 years ago. At this time stroke was called apoplexy, which means "struck down by violence" in Greek. This was due to the fact that a person developed sudden paralysis and change in well-being. Physicians had little knowledge of the anatomy and function of the brain, the cause of stroke, or how to treat it.
It was not until the mid-1600s that Jacob Wepfer found that patients who died with apoplexy had bleeding in the brain. He also discovered that a blockage in one of the brain's blood vessels could cause apoplexy.
Medical science continued to study the cause, symptoms, and treatment of apoplexy and, finally, in 1928, apoplexy was divided into categories based on the cause of the blood vessel problem. This led to the terms stroke or "cerebral vascular accident (CVA)." Stroke is now often referred to as a "brain attack" to denote the fact that it is caused by a lack of blood supply to the brain, very much like a "heart attack" is caused by a lack of blood supply to the heart. The term brain attack also conveys a more urgent call for immediate action and emergency treatment by the general public.
Today, there is a wealth of information available on the cause, prevention, risk, and treatment of stroke. Although there is no cure, most stroke victims now have a good chance for survival and recovery. Immediate treatment, supportive care, and rehabilitation can all improve the quality of life for stroke victims.
* Perry, Thomas and Miller Frank (1961). 'Pathology: A Dynamic Introduction to Medicine and Surgery. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
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