Mechanism and Outcome of Acute Ischemic Stroke in Cancer Patients

Stroke is a part of circulatory diseases which are the primary cause of death in Egypt. It accounts 14% of all deaths thus ranks the 2nd after ischemic heart disease. Cancer accounts 9% of population mortality in Egypt. Nearly 108,600 Egyptians newly diagnosed with cancer each year. The interrelationship between stroke and cancer is complex. Cancer may directly or indirectly lead to stroke via: hypercoagulability, nonbacterial thrombotic endocarditis (NBTE), direct tumor compression of blood vessels or treatment-related effects which potentiate stroke. The risk of ischemic stroke after chemotherapy is largely increased by the use of certain types of chemotherapy not only by cancer histologic type. Brain infarction usually a subsequent complication appears sometimes shortly after chemotherapy. Chronic radiation vasculopathy that affects medium and large intra- and extra-cranial arteries is characterized by increasing rates of hemodynamic significant stenosis with time after radiotherapy. The study aims to clarify the relation between cancer and its treatment with ischemic stroke by discussing the different mechanisms by which a vascular insult happen causing neurological deficit. The study provides more information about cancer patients with higher risk to develop ischemic stroke more than other patients by identifying co morbidities and dosage of cancer treatment that causes cerebrovascular insults.