Introduction

The expression “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” applies to few things more appropriately than stroke prevention. Over the last 30 years, the medical community has made much more progress in the realm of preventing strokes than in successfully treating those that do occur. Continued vigilance in this area, progress in the acute treatment of strokes, and new techniques in acute rehabilitation hold much promise for those stricken with this disease.  

Prevention or prophylaxis of stroke (and all other medical conditions) can be divided into two major categories: primary stroke prevention (refers to things we can do to prevent ever having a stroke); and secondary stroke prevention (refers to changes we can make after one suffers a stroke, to prevent subsequent strokes from recurring).