Stroke is a major health concern worldwide, and the epidemiological data is staggering. One in six people will have a stroke during the course of their life; it is the second most common cause of death; and stroke also ranks second among causes contributing to the global burden of disability. However, the burden of stroke can be alleviated: it is potentially preventable, treatable, and possible to manage long term. Despite continuing advances in our knowledge about this disease, there is currently still a large evidence-to-clinical practice gap in all regions.

The Oxford Textbook of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disease is a comprehensive textbook on clinical stroke, covering all major aspects of cerebrovascular disease including epidemiology, risk factors, primary prevention, pathophysiology, diagnostics, clinical features, acute therapies, secondary prevention, prognosis, and rehabilitation. It makes use of current pedagogic principles, and includes not only aspects on management in the acute hospital phase of stroke, but also public health issues, prevention, long-term management, and silent vascular disease (which is becoming increasingly epidemic in the general population). Topical aspects also include advice to improve clinical skills in examination, diagnosing, and treating stroke. The text also covers the fields of silent cerebrovascular disease (silent brain infarcts, microbleeds, white matter ischemic abnormalities) that more recently have been recognized to be highly prevalent in the general population, and that carry important risks on vascular events and cognitive decline/dementia.

Chapters are written by a most distinguished group of international experts in the field of stroke from around the world, and have been carefully edited to ensure consistency in style and clarity of contents. The concurrent online version allows access to the full content of the textbook, contains links from the references to primary research journal articles, allows full text searches, and provides access to figures and tables that can be downloaded to PowerPointRG.

Practical, easy to use, yet detailed with respect to pathophysiology, diagnostics, and management, this text provides a source of reference for the detection and management of all stroke and less common cerebrovascular diseases for practising and trainee neurologists, geriatricians, and all stroke physicians and clinicians.