Cerebral ischemia is a condition in which a blockage in an artery restricts the delivery of oxygen-rich blood to the brain, resulting in damage to brain tissue. Cerebral ischemia is sometimes called brain ischemia or cerebrovascular ischemia.
Cerebral ischemia can lead not only to brain-cell damage but to brain-cell death. A transient ischemic attack (TIA), also known as a mini-stroke, is when the cerebral ischemia causes the temporary loss of brain function. An ischemic stroke, also known as a cerebral infarction or brain attack, results when a blood vessel is occluded and the loss of brain function is permanent because the brain tissue dies (sometimes called necrosis). Ischemic strokes are the most common form of stroke.
For more information, please visit our Ischemia, Cerebral page.
Vascular specialists, who work with patients experiencing conditions and disorders of the blood vessels, often talk of the “Lazarus effect,” a phenomenon in which a patient revives after coming to the brink of death, as happens in stroke or heart...
Our Care Team
- Chairman and Neurosurgeon-in-Chief
- Margaret and Robert J. Hariri, MD ’87, PhD ’87 Professor of Neurological Surgery
- Vice Provost of Business Affairs and Integration
Phone: 212-746-4684
- Director of Cerebrovascular and Endovascular Neurosurgery, NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist
Phone: 718-780-3070
- Assistant Professor of Radiology in Neurological Surgery (Manhattan and Queens)
Phone: 212-746-2821 (Manhattan) or 718-303-3739 (Queens)
- Professor of Radiology in Neurological Surgery
Phone: 212-746-4998
- Director of Cerebrovascular Surgery and Interventional Neuroradiology
- Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery
- Fellowship Director, Endovascular Neurosurgery
Phone: 212-746-5149
- Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery (Brooklyn and Manhattan)
Phone: 212-746-2821 (Manhattan); 718-780-3070 (Brooklyn)
Reviewed by: Dr. Philip E. Stieg
Last reviewed/updated: February 2021
Illustration by Thom Graves