There has been a great deal of discussion as to whether the current definitions of stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) are appropriate for the twenty-first century. Modern brain scanning and imaging techniques, such as CT scanning and magnetic resonance scanning, has clearly shown that cerebral TIAs and ischemic stroke are the same disease, and it is our artificial time limit of 24 hours that separates the two.
However, in an ever-changing world the problem of basing a definition just on the results of brain imaging would mean that what was a referred to as a TIA today may be reffered to as signs of a stroke tomorrow! Such changes to the definition would cause major problems in the science of medicine as doctors would not be able to compare like with like over time. This emphasizes the value of the current clinical definitions: the study of stroke and TIA over time will be comparing like with like, no matter what progress is made in identifying the underlying infarcts or ischemic brain with advanced brain imaging.
There are further advantages of the current definitions of stroke symptoms. Different conditions tend to mimic short-duration attacks (TIA) rather than longer attacks (stroke), and this can be helpful information for the doctor.
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