Apoplexy

Apoplexy is an old-fashioned medical term, generally used interchangeably with cerebrovascular accident (CVA or stroke) but having other meanings as well.

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The use of apoplexy for the term stroke is derived from the fact that many patients lose consciousness during the acute stage of the vascular compromise (either through bleeding or ischemia). It is not to be confused with cataplexy (an attack of the neurological syndrome narcolepsy).

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Occasionally, the term 'apoplexy' is used to describe hemorrhaging within other organs; in such usage, however, it is coupled with an adjective describing the site of the bleeding. For example, bleeding within the kidneys can be called renal apoplexy, or bleeding within the pituitary gland can be called pituitary apoplexy.

Medical: REDIRECT medicine...

Cerebrovascular accident: A stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is suddenly interrupted by occlusion (called an ischemic stroke -- approximately 90% of strokes), by hemorrhage (called a hemorrhagic stroke -- about 10% of strokes) or other causes. Ischemia is a reductio...

Consciousness: Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one's environment. Philosophers divide consciousness into phenomenal consciousness which is expe...