After a TIA (Mini Stroke)

If you have recently had stroke-like symptoms that disappeared quickly, they could have been caused by a TIA.

If you are at high risk of stroke, you should see a stroke specialist within 24 hours of when your symptoms started. You should also have a brain scan within 24 hours. If you need a scan, you might be offered a type of scan called MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) unless this is not suitable for you, in which case you should be offered a CT (computed tomography) scan. 

If you are at lower risk of stroke, you should be assessed by a specialist as soon as possible, and definitely within one week. If you need a brain scan you should also have this within one week. 

Once it has been confirmed that you have had a TIA, your healthcare team should talk to you about making changes to your lifestyle to reduce the risk of having a stroke.

These changes might include

• stopping smoking, 
• reducing the amounts of saturated fat in you diet, 
• reducing the salt in your diet,
  
• reducing alcohol intake
  
• losing weight
• taking more exercise.

If you have had a TIA or minor stroke and your specialist thinks that the cause might be blockage of the main blood vessel in your neck (the carotid artery), you should have a scan of your neck within one week of when your symptoms started. 

If the scan shows significant narrowing of your carotid artery, you should have an operation called a carotid endarterectomy within two weeks of your stroke or TIA to remove the blockage, if your overall health allows this.

Whether or not you need surgery,  if you have any narrowing of the carotid artery you should be given drugs to thin the blood. You should also be offered advice and/or drugs for controlling your blood pressure and reducing your cholesterol level.