Subjective experiences of 24 patients dramatically recovering from stroke

There are no reports describing patients' perception of having a stroke and then dramatically recovering.

We interviewed 24 patients randomized at our center to intravenous tissue plasminogen activator or placebo in an ongoing multicenter blinded prospective study. These patients demonstrated at least 50% improvement or an absolute improvement of 5 points on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale during the first 24 hours after treatment, with 7 patients returning completely to normal. Twelve of 24 of the strokes involved the right middle cerebral artery, 2 of 24 the right posterior cerebral artery, 8 of 24 the left middle cerebral artery, and 2 of 24 the basilar artery territory. CT scans at 24 hours or 1 week showed infarction in 19 of 24. Most patients (19 of 24) could clearly recall the exact circumstances involving the onset of their stroke, but only 12 of 24 were aware of the magnitude of their neurological deficit (7 of 14 right hemisphere and 4 of 8 left hemisphere patients). Only 6 of 24 were aware of their improvement when it occurred (3 of 14 right hemisphere and 2 of 8 left hemisphere patients). Five of 24 remembered positive phenomena such as warmth or tingling during their recovery, and only 2 patients demonstrated euphoria. Most patients seemed peculiarly unaware or blasé about their deficit and improvement.

Most patients with acute stroke are not aware of the severity of their problem, and recovering patients do not remember important events during the next 24 hours. This occurs with either right or left hemisphere lesions and may have a significant impact on early stroke recognition.