People know the classic symptoms of stroke: a drooping face, difficulty speaking, and weakness on one side of the body. But silent strokes, or cerebral infarcts, can occur without any apparent signs.

Like a regular ischemic stroke, they can cause permanent damage and increase the risk for symptomatic strokes and dementia. So what can you do about it?

Causes

Silent strokes occur when a blood vessel becomes blocked by a clot, just like a transient ischemic attack (TIA), but unlike a TIA, silent strokes don’t cause any symptoms. They’re often discovered by chance when someone undergoes a brain scan for something else like Parkinson’s Disease or for headaches, dizziness, or memory problems that can’t be explained.

These strokes can also be challenging to recognize, significantly if they’re affecting parts of the brain that control functions duplicated by other brain cells, such as the ability to walk or speak. The symptoms that do develop, such as weakness or slurred speech, may be mistaken for garden-variety clumsiness or memory lapses.

Taking steps to reduce your risk factors can help prevent both silent and symptomatic strokes. Talk to your doctor about lifestyle changes, including diet, exercise, and medication as prescribed. Addressing health conditions like high blood pressure and sleep apnea can help, too. A unique home treatment called hyperbaric oxygen therapy can also help rehabilitate and improve the function of the brain after a silent stroke.

Symptoms

Symptoms of silent stroke are sometimes easy to miss. Unlike a regular stroke, which causes dramatic symptoms like slurred speech or weakness on one side of the body, silent strokes disrupt blood flow to a part of the brain that controls subtle functions, such as memory and reasoning skills.

They also don’t cause noticeable signs, such as headaches or dizziness. Instead, doctors often discover a silent stroke by chance when doing a scan for another health condition.

Researchers have found that people who have suffered a silent lacunar infarction, also known as white matter hyperintensities, are more likely to experience cognitive challenges, such as difficulty thinking or trouble concentrating. They are also more likely to develop a symptomatic stroke in the future.

If you think you might have experienced a silent stroke, see your primary care physician or neurologist right away. Your doctor will check your risk factors and work with you to address them as best you can.

Treatment

Like symptomatic strokes, silent ones happen when blood clots block a blood vessel and cut off oxygen to brain cells. The difference is that they usually disrupt the supply to a small part of the brain, often in an area that doesn’t control essential functions such as arm or leg movement, so there are no visible symptoms.

Most people who have silent strokes discover they’ve had one only when they have an MRI or CT scan for another reason, and doctors notice that their brain has been affected. They may then start to see problems such as memory difficulties or clumsiness.

As with symptomatic strokes, there are treatments for silent strokes that can reduce the risk of future events and improve quality of life. In addition to diet and exercise, essential for all, patients should work with their doctors to manage health conditions such as high blood pressure and sleep apnea that increase the risk of clots and other vascular issues.

Prevention

While stroke symptoms, such as weakness in one arm or leg and garbled speech, are easily recognized, silent strokes can be harder to spot. These strokes typically affect a small area of the brain and cause no apparent signs, leaving people unaware that they have had one. They also raise the risk of future symptomatic strokes.

Fortunately, there are many ways to prevent silent strokes and other health problems, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and smoking. Regular exercise, eating a balanced diet, maintaining a healthy weight, controlling cholesterol and blood sugar, and taking medication to manage heart disease, high blood pressure, and depression can all lower your risk of a stroke.

If you have a history of stroke, mainly a silent stroke, it is essential to work with your doctor on a prevention plan. Silent strokes only affect a small portion of the brain, but they can still cause permanent damage.