Signs and Symptoms: Part 2
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2019-11-28T10:30:37-08:00
Signs and symptoms vary depending on which part of the brain was affected and to what extent (American Heart Association, 2019). For example, as shown in Figure 6, damage in the frontal lobe can cause emotional changes and dysarthria (Elsevier, 2012). Emotional changes are characterized by extreme uncontrolled crying, laughing, mood swings and irritability, whereas dysarthria is a motor speech difficulty, typically characterized by slurred speech (Elsevier, 2012). Furthermore, damage in the occipital lobe can cause visual issues while damage to the temporal lobe can cause communication issues (Elsevier, 2012). Damage in the brainstem can cause dysphagia which includes coughing and choking when trying to swallow food or fluids (Elsevier, 2012).
Damage to the primary motor cortex can lead to hemiparesis, which is characterized by muscular weakness on one side of the body, contralateral to the brain area affected by the stroke as seen in Figure 7 (Aqueveque et al., 2017). Hemiparesis affects 88% of all stroke survivors (Aqueveque et al., 2017). Damage to this region, found in the frontal lobe (Figure 8), can also lead to motor impairments such as spasticity, the inability to scale muscle contractions, poor motor coordination, and impaired balance (Knutson et al,. 2015). These deficits can affect activities of daily living such as gait and balance control (Hatem et al,. 2016). Motor impairments are more likely to recover if targeted in the first month of onset and is related to neuronal reorganization (Fasoli et al., 2004).
