Medical Complications Post Stroke
Chapter 17
Medical complications post stroke are defined as medical or neurological problems that necessitate a physician’s order and require monitoring by medical staff (Chen et al., 2014; Dromerick & Reding, 1994). These complications are separate from issues related to secondary stroke prevention, occur relatively frequently, and contribute to poor health outcomes (Doshi et al., 2003). Although the number of potential medical complications can be extensive for a given patient, this review focuses on the most common and clinically relevant medical complications in the short- and long-term: bladder and bowel dysfunction, venous thromboembolism, seizures, osteoporosis, central pain states, fatigue, and insomnia. Therefore an understanding of these disorders is critically important to stroke care and management.
