A transient ischemic attack (TIA) is a temporary period of symptoms similar to those of a stroke. A TIA usually lasts only a few minutes and doesn’t cause permanent damage.
Often called a ministroke, a transient ischemic attack may be a warning. About 1 in 3 people who has a transient ischemic attack will eventually have a stroke, with about half occurring within a year after the transient ischemic attack.
A transient ischemic attack can serve as both a warning of a future stroke and an opportunity to prevent it.
Symptoms
Transient ischemic attacks usually last a few minutes. Most signs and symptoms disappear within an hour, though rarely symptoms may last up to 24 hours. The signs and symptoms of a TIA resemble those found early in a stroke and may include sudden onset of:
- Weakness, numbness or paralysis in your face, arm or leg, typically on one side of your body
- Slurred or garbled speech or difficulty understanding others
- Blindness in one or both eyes or double vision
- Vertigo or loss of balance or coordination
You may have more than one TIA, and the recurrent signs and symptoms may be similar or different depending on which area of the brain is involved.
Causes
A transient ischemic attack has the same origins as that of an ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke. In an ischemic stroke, a clot blocks the blood supply to part of your brain. In a transient ischemic attack, unlike a stroke, the blockage is brief, and there is no permanent damage.
The underlying cause of a TIA often is a buildup of cholesterol-containing fatty deposits called plaques (atherosclerosis) in an artery or one of its branches that supplies oxygen and nutrients to your brain.
Plaques can decrease the blood flow through an artery or lead to the development of a clot. A blood clot moving to an artery that supplies your brain from another part of your body, most commonly from your heart, also may cause a TIA.
Risk factors
Some risk factors for a transient ischemic attack and stroke can’t be changed. Others you can control.
Risk factors you can’t change
You can’t change the following risk factors for a transient ischemic attack and stroke. But knowing you’re at risk can motivate you to change your lifestyle to reduce other risks.
- Family history.Your risk may be greater if one of your family members has had a TIA or a stroke.
- Your risk increases as you get older, especially after age 55.
- Men have a slightly higher risk of a TIA and a stroke. But as women age, their risk of a stroke goes up.
- Prior transient ischemic attack.If you’ve had one or more TIAs, you’re much more likely to have a stroke.
- Sickle cell disease.Stroke is a frequent complication of sickle cell disease. Another name for this inherited disorder is sickle cell anemia. Sickle-shaped blood cells carry less oxygen and also tend to get stuck in artery walls, hampering blood flow to the brain. However, with proper treatment of sickle cell disease, you can lower your risk of a stroke.
Risk factors you can control
You can control or treat a number of factors — including certain health conditions and lifestyle choices — that increase your risk of a stroke. Having one or more of these risk factors doesn’t mean you’ll have a stroke, but your risk increases if you have two or more of them.
Health conditions
- High blood pressure.The risk of a stroke begins to increase at blood pressure readings higher than 140/90 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Your doctor will help you decide on a target blood pressure based on your age, whether you have diabetes and other factors.
- High cholesterol.Eating less cholesterol and fat, especially saturated fat and trans fat, may reduce the plaques in your arteries. If you can’t control your cholesterol through dietary changes alone, your doctor may prescribe a statin or another type of cholesterol-lowering medication.
- Cardiovascular disease.This includes heart failure, a heart defect, a heart infection or an abnormal heart rhythm.
- Carotid artery disease.The blood vessels in your neck that lead to your brain become clogged.
- Peripheral artery disease (PAD).The blood vessels that carry blood to your arms and legs become clogged.
- Diabetes increases the severity of atherosclerosis — narrowing of the arteries due to accumulation of fatty deposits — and the speed with which it develops.
- High levels of homocysteine.Elevated levels of this amino acid in your blood can cause your arteries to thicken and scar, which makes them more susceptible to clots.
- Excess weight.Obesity, especially carrying extra weight in the abdominal area, increases stroke risk in both men and women.
Lifestyle choices
- Cigarette smoking.Quit smoking to reduce your risk of a TIA and a stroke. Smoking increases your risk of blood clots, raises your blood pressure and contributes to the development of cholesterol-containing fatty deposits in your arteries (atherosclerosis).
- Physical inactivity.Engaging in 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise most days helps reduce risk.
- Poor nutrition.Reducing your intake of fat and salt decreases your risk of a TIA and a stroke.
- Heavy drinking.If you drink alcohol, limit yourself to no more than two drinks daily if you’re a man and one drink daily if you’re a woman.
- Use of illicit drugs.Avoid cocaine and other illicit drugs.
Treatment
Once your doctor has determined the cause of your transient ischemic attack, the goal of treatment is to correct the abnormality and prevent a stroke. Depending on the cause of your TIA, your doctor may prescribe medication to reduce the tendency for blood to clot or may recommend surgery or a balloon procedure (angioplasty).