Diagnosing a heart attack requires a blood test for troponin, plus symptoms or evidence of heart attack on an ECG or imaging test. There are six different types of heart attack, each of which may be treated differently.
Magnetic brain stimulation may help people recover speech and language after a stroke, a small study suggests. The study included 24 people who had a recent stroke. All had aphasia, difficulty with speech or language. People were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group was given transcranial magnetic stimulation. This is a low-intensity magnetic pulse. It was applied to the head on the opposite side to the area damaged in the stroke. The stimulation temporarily “shut down” brain function in that area. The purpose was to force the damaged area to work harder. Treatment lasted 20 minutes. Right afterward, people in both groups had 45 minutes of speech and language therapy. In the second group, people received sham stimulation. It was applied to a different area and did not go deep enough to stimulate the brain. This group also got speech and language therapy.