How is a stroke diagnosed?

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    Last Updated: October 25, 2023

    A health care provider will diagnose a stroke based on signs and symptoms, medical history, and diagnostic scans to image the brain (CT or MRI scans). The provider checks a person’s alertness, coordination/balance, sensation and strength in certain body parts, and any difficulties seeing. Sometimes additional tests of the heart (electrocardiogram and/or an echocardiography) are done to search for blood clots and other problems.[1]