Causes of Evolution

Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability and death worldwide. It has become the first disease leading to neurologic referrals to hospital and, while recognized in medicine since antiquity, stroke did not acquire a proper place within neurology until the second part of the 20th century. The main reason for this is that, because it deals with blood vessels and circulation, neurologists themselves did not want to include stroke as a primary disorder of the nervous system. However, this is one of the many reasons the historical development of stroke and cerebrovascular disease is of unique interest; it touches not only on neurology but also on internal medicine, angiology, cardiology, rehabilitation, and psychiatry within the frame of secondary behavioral and personality changes after stroke. For the same reasons, the study of the developments in the field of stroke over time is an excellent mirror of historical developments in medicine in general, encompassing many different domains.