Here's a handy guide to some technical terms you may come across. Hey, if nothing else, you can impress friends and family with your growing vocabulary!

Air embolus: An air bubble in the blood stream.

Ambulation: The act of walking.

Aneurysm: A permanent abnormal balloon-like bulging of an artery's wall. The bursting of an aneurysm in a brain artery or blood vessel causes a hemorrhagic stroke.

Anticoagulant agents: Drugs used in stroke prevention therapy to prevent blood clots from forming or growing. Anticoagulants interfere with the production of certain blood components necessary for clot formation.

Aphasia: A general term for communication problems, which may include the loss or reduction of the ability to speak, read, write or understand, due to dysfunction of brain centers.

Apoplexy: Latin word for stroke, derived from the Greek word plesso. Apoplexy was defined as "a stroke of God's hands."

Apraxia: A disorder of learned movement unexplained by deficits in strength, coordination, sensation or comprehension.

Atherosclerosis: A hardening or build up of cholesterol plaque and other fatty deposits in the arteries.

Bruit: A distinctive "rushing" sound heard in the carotid arteries where plaque build up is present.

Cerebellar stroke: A stroke that strikes the cerebellum area of the brain, which controls balance and coordination.

Cerebral edema: Swelling of the brain caused by an increase in intracellular water.

Cryptogenic: An unkown cause.

Dysphagia: Inability and/or difficulty in swallowing.

Emotional lability: Instability or changeability of the emotions. In stroke survivors, emotional lability usually takes the form of inappropriate laughing or crying for no obvious reason.

Endocarditis: An inflammation of the lining of the heart and valves.

Hemiplegia: Paralysis of one side of the body.

Hemorrhagic stroke: A stroke caused by a ruptured blood vessel and characterized by a hemorrhage (bleeding) within or surrounding the brain.

Infarct: The immediate area of brain cell death caused by a stroke. When the brain cells in the infarct die, they release chemicals that set off a chain reaction that endangers brain cells in a larger surrounding area, known as the penumbra.

Spasticity: Abnormally increased tone in a muscle.

Thrombosis: The clotting of blood within a vessel.

TransEsophageal Echocardiagram: An ultrasound test used to visual the heart via a tube placed down the throat.

Valvular Regurtiation: An abnormal backward flow of blood through the valve.

Not finding a specific term? See this comprehensive A-Z dictionary from the
American Heart Association