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CNN Live Saturday

Margaret Thatcher Makes Full Recovery From Minor Stroke

Aired January 26, 2002 - 14:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thankfully, doctors say she's fine now, but Britain's Margaret Thatcher suffered a minor stroke late last year while vacationing in Portugal.

A spokesperson for the Thatcher Foundation said the former prime minister had tests at a Portuguese hospital. She was then treated then released.

CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us to talk more about Mrs. Thatcher's episode, strokes in general, etcetera.

There were are couple of things that led up to her stroke. The slurred speech, you mentioned, earlier. Can these things easily go undetected?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: They very much can. And it's a very important point, Fredricka.

You know, there are some very subtle signs that are important to look for, and this is a good example.

To sort of break it down, late last year starting, they had some troubles with speaking. Starting to have some troubles with coordination. A lot of people might not think twice about something like that, especially if it goes away with a period of a few hours and someone makes a complete recovery from something like that.

But those can often be signs of something called transient ischemic attack. People might know them as TIA's. And it can be as subtle as just a little bit of weakness in the hand. A little bit of difficulty with handwriting, things like that.

But often times, when those things occur, they can actually represent a brief interruption of the blood supply to the brain. And as doctors will tell the patients, as doctors have told patients afterwards, they should always get that checked out. Sometimes that can actually be because the arteries in the neck may be a little narrowed. It could be because blood clots are coming up from the heart. These are all concerns.

Bottom-line though is absolutely what you said, they can be of concern. They should be checked out.

WHITFIELD: They're qualifying this stroke as minor. You know, that seems like, you know, a difficult way in order to categorize, you know, kind of a misnomer here.

GUPTA: Right.

WHITFIELD: It doesn't seem like any stroke would be minor. How do you qualify that?

GUPTA: Yeah, exactly. There's some art, there's some science, when it goes into some of this terminology.

But the thing about strokes that's important to remember, just from the definition standpoint, it's important, is that a stroke is something that persists, a deficit that persists. Your hand stays weak. It does not get better.

In the case of the former prime minister, they say she had a complete recovery. Fredricka, this probably wasn't a stroke but more likely a TIA as she has made a complete recovery.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks very much, Dr. Sanjay Gupta for joining us once again and chatting a little bit more about that and educating all of us about it.

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