WHO Definition of Stroke

A stroke is a clinical syndrome characterised by rapidly developing clinical symptoms and / or signs of focal, and at times global (applied to patients in deep coma and those with subarachnoid haemorrhage), loss of cerebral function, with symptoms lasting more than 24 hours or leading to death, with no apparent cause other than that of vascular origin (Hatano, 1976). This definition includes stroke due to cerebral infarction, primary intracerebral haemorrhage (PICH), intraventricular haemorrhage, and most cases of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH); it excludes subdural haemorrhage, epidural haemorrhage, or intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) or infarction caused by infection or tumour.