Cerebrovascular disease, a "stroke" or "brain attack", occurs when the blood supply to a part of your brain is blocked or severely reduced, by a blood vessel breaking or a clot, and the brain tissue is deprived of oxygen and nutrients. Within a few minutes to a few hours, the brain cells begin to die. When brain cells die during a stroke, abilities or functions controlled by that part of the brain are lost. These include speech, movement, and memory among others. How a stroke patient is affected depends on where the stroke occurred in the brain and how much the brain is damaged. …
