Transient Ischemic Attacks

The occurrence of fleeting episodes of numbness or paralysis was known to early physicians. One referred to them as “straws which show how the intracranial wind is blowing.” In 1950, a patient with a left-sided paralysis reported that before his stroke he had several brief spells of blindness in his right eye. “Isn't it funny, it was in the wrong eye? I went blind in the right eye and got paralyzed on the left side.” The patient had metastatic colorectal cancer and died shortly afterward. Autopsy disclosed occlusion of the right internal carotid artery in the neck (see Figure). Transient . . .