Primary prevention is when you take steps to prevent a disease before you have symptoms or it becomes clinically apparent. In the case of stroke prevention, this involves all aspects of healthy Vascular living : avoiding tobacco, controlling your cholesterol and sugar intake, exercising, maintaining a healthy weight and keeping your blood pressure under control.
What happens when you have already experienced symptoms of a TIA?
Secondary prevention is what you do to prevent a bigger, disabling stroke or even dying from a stroke when you have recently had symptoms of a mini-stroke or TIA (E-FAST : sudden blindness in one eye, facial drooping on one side, arm or leg weakness or numbness on one side, sudden speech problems).
These symptoms are most likely caused by a narrowing in the carotid arteries of your neck(carotid stenosis). An ischaemic stroke caused by carotid stenosis can be prevented by a simple operation called carotid endarterectomy.
Part 3 of our Carotid Video series: Mr Yow explains what is a carotid endarterectomy and how it prevents a stroke.