Stroke in young adults
The tiered workup: dissection and cardioembolism first, RoPE for the PFO, zebras by their doors.
The reference shelf
The Stroke Library.
Clinician reference chapters on the diseases, lesions, complications, and anatomy of cerebrovascular medicine — each one decision-first, cited to the primary trials, reviewed by Zaka Ahmed, MD, and wired into the clinical tools and calculators it pairs with. The acute pathways live in the Stroke Hub; this shelf is for everything the pathway assumes you know.
Educational use only
These chapters support learning and bedside discussion. They do not replace clinical judgment, institutional protocols, current guidelines, or emergency care.
§ 01 · Etiologies & vasculopathies
Why this patient, why this artery.
Cervical artery dissection
Imaging pearls, CADISS vs TREAT-CAD honestly read, and how long to treat.
CADASIL & genetic small vessel disease
The lacunar strokes that run in the family — temporal-pole MRI, NOTCH3, counseling.
Moyamoya disease
The "puff of smoke": Suzuki staging, hemodynamic protection, and the bypass decision.
Fibromuscular dysplasia
String of beads, dissection risk, and the one-time head-to-pelvis screen.
§ 02 · Hemorrhagic & vascular lesions
Fragile vessels, priced honestly.
Cerebral amyloid angiopathy
Boston 2.0, amyloid spells that mimic TIA, and the anticoagulation problem.
Cerebral microbleeds
What the SWI dots change — and the pooled data behind "usually, still anticoagulate."
Unruptured intracranial aneurysm
PHASES in practice, treat versus watch, and what to tell the patient at 2 a.m.
Brain AVMs
Rupture math, Spetzler-Martin in a table, ARUBA honestly read.
Cavernous malformations
The popcorn lesion: real hemorrhage numbers by site and history, and who earns surgery.
§ 03 · Complications & recovery
What shows up after the alert.
Post-stroke dysphagia
NPO until screened, silent aspiration, and the FOOD-trial feeding sequence.
Post-stroke epilepsy
The 7-day line, no prophylaxis, and drugs that don't sabotage the DOAC.
Post-stroke spasticity
Treat the problem tone causes — the four-rung ladder from stretch to pump.
Central post-stroke pain
The burning the lesion makes: two-minute exam, honest drug evidence.
Vascular cognitive impairment
Executive failure with spared memory — MoCA, mimics, and prevention led by blood pressure.
Post-stroke fatigue
Real, common, and workable — what to rule out and how to pace recovery.
§ 04 · Imaging, anatomy & foundations
The map the syndromes are drawn on.
Cerebral artery territories
The map, the perforators, the borderzones — and the variants that rewrite localization.
Brainstem stroke syndromes
Crossed signs, one master table, and the two presentations that cannot wait.
PCA stroke
The back-of-the-brain stroke the NIHSS misses — alexia, Anton, Percheron.
Core & penumbra
The physiology every reperfusion decision runs on — collaterals, time, no-reflow.
Central retinal artery occlusion
The eye stroke that belongs on the stroke pathway — and the GCA caveat over 50.
Pediatric stroke
Missed for days, arteriopathy-led, MRI-first — scored with the PedNIHSS.
Acute pathways and bedside scores live under Clinical Tools; general-medicine scores under Calculators; landmark trials in the Trial Library. Something missing from the shelf? Suggest a chapter.