Physicochemical risk factors in stroke

In addition to the important role which blood platelets play in the pathogenesis of stroke recent studies have implicated the red blood cell (RBC) in the events which lead to brain infarction. The hypothesis that patients with specific types of stroke have hemorheological abnormalities which originate from decreased RBC deformability will be examined. The specific types of cerebral infarction are classified into cardioembolic stroke, thromboembolic stroke and lacunar infarction. Normal subjects and persons at high risk for stroke are also under study. Preliminary results on blood from normal individuals, high risk cases and stroke patients show that apparent whole blood viscosities, especially at low rates of shear, are elevated for both the high risk and acute stroke group, with the acute stroke group being significantly higher than the high risk group. Within the stroke group those patients with a Starr-Edwards heart valve and cardioembolic stroke have appreciably higher apparent viscosities than individuals with other types of stroke.