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"Stroke is a term that refers to disruption of blood flow to the brain, and that can either be a blockage in an artery where the brain is deprived of oxygen and nutrients, or it can also refer to a bleed in the brain, where one of the arteries in the brain breaks open and causes bleeding into the brain itself," says Dr. James Klaas, a Mayo Clinic neurologist.

Both types of stroke present similar symptoms, but the treatments are very different.

"It's very important to get medical attention very quickly because the only way we can often sort that out is by doing an imaging study of the brain," says Dr. Klaas.

If the stroke is caused by a blockage, there are two primary treatments. The first is a clot-busting medication. The second is a procedure to physically remove the clot.

"These are what we call the endovascular procedures," says Dr. Felix Chukwudelunzu, a Mayo Clinic neurologist. "We use a guide wire through the blood vessel in the groin and thread it up to that blood vessel in the brain and snag out the blood clot and reopen the blood vessel."

For a hemorrhagic stroke caused by a burst or leaking blood vessel, the blood increases pressure on brain cells and damages them.

"We're going to make sure that the blood pressure is not too high. We're going to make sure the patient's blood is not too thin — whether from a medical condition or from a medication — and then we're going to treat that accordingly," says Dr. Klaas. "If there's too much blood flow in the brain, there might be pressure, and we might need to relieve that pressure surgically."

Related post:

• Mayo Clinic Minute: Recognize the sudden warning signs of stroke

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Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (1:04) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

"Close to 90% of all strokes are preventable," says Dr. Felix Chukwudelunzu, a Mayo Clinic neurologist.

The first step in stroke prevention is recognizing the risk factors.

"There are those that are modifiable and those that are nonmodifiable. Certain nonmodifiable would be age," says Dr. James Klaas, a Mayo Clinic neurologist.

The older you are, the greater the chance of having a stroke.

Stroke risks

"If you're above the age of 65, you're more likely to have a stroke than someone in their 20s or 30s, for example," says Dr. Chukwudelunzu.

Another nonmodifiable risk factor is family history of stroke — especially a first-degree relative.

"In terms of the modifiable risk factors, what we'd be looking for is high blood pressure — is probably the most significant — then we look for high cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, amongst others," says Dr. Klaas.

Maintaining physical activity and watching what you eat are both important factors in stroke prevention.

"We know that people that eat, for example, high-salt diet, they are more likely to have high blood pressure than people that don't. So dietary changes can also help reduce chances of a stroke," says Chukwudelunzu. "Identifying these risk factors and making sure that they're being treated appropriately goes a long way into preventing that stroke from happening in the first place."

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May is Stroke Awareness Month, and knowing the signs and symptoms of stroke can save your life or the life of someone you care about. Stroke can happen suddenly, and every second counts when it comes to getting treatment. Doctors at Mayo Clinic say remembering a simple acronym — B.E.F.A.S.T. — can help you recognize the warning signs of stroke and act quickly.

Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

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Stroke is the No. 4 cause of death and a leading cause of disability in the U.S. About 1 in 4 people worldwide will experience stroke in their lifetime.

A stroke happens when blood flow to the brain is blocked or a blood vessel bursts, causing brain cells to die within minutes. It is often linked to risk factors like high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, obesity and aging.

The American Stroke Association has updated the acronym it uses to help identify a stroke. B.E.F.A.S.T. (pronounced "be fast") adds two letters — B and E — to the former acronym F.A.S.T.

Each letter in BEFAST represents a warning sign of stroke — and recognizing them quickly can save a life.

• B stands for balance. Sudden onset of loss of balance or coordination.
• E stands for eyes. That's going to be vision problems, sudden loss of vision in one eye or the other.
• F is face. And so you're going to look for facial drooping or facial weakness.
• A stands for sudden onset weakness of one side of the arm, or one side of the leg on one side of the body.
•  S stands for sudden onset speech disturbance. So some difficulty in communicating or speaking
• T stands for time just to remind us that time is brain. 
  

If you have someone that you think is having a stroke, it's time to call 911. Recognizing the signs and acting quickly can make all the difference. And the good news is up to 90% of strokes may be preventable by managing risk factors and living a healthy lifestyle.

When someone suffers a stroke, every second counts. And the faster a patient receives treatment, the better the odds for a positive outcome. Recognizing B.E.F.A.S.T. and getting treatment quickly can minimize damage to the brain and minimize post-stroke complications.

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• Mayo Clinic Minute: Know the risk factors to prevent stroke
• Mayo Clinic Q and A: Aphasia can be the first sign of stroke

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Some severe headaches aren't migraines. They may be caused by a nerve being pinched. When other treatments don't work, surgery may offer relief. Learn more from Dr. Antonio Forte, a Mayo Clinic microvascular plastic and reconstructive surgeon with deep experience in migraine surgery.

Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

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Often called trigger site-induced headaches, pain from compressed nerves can last all day and be resistant to treatments like medication.

"Headaches that originate from compression of the occipital nerve will usually have a pain that starts on the back of the neck and radiates to the side of the head," says Dr. Forte. "Patients who have headaches that originate from compression of the supraorbital and supratrochlear nerve, they will usually start with a pain site that is above their eye, and that pain will radiate to their forehead."

Evaluation and care

Nerves can be compressed by surrounding tissue or muscle. At Mayo Clinic, patients are evaluated by a multidisciplinary team that gathers the necessary data and imaging to develop a personalized care plan, which may include surgical nerve decompression.

Dr. Forte explains that occipital nerve decompression starts with a 5-centimeter incision made along the hairline.

"We are able to then identify your greater occipital nerve and then remove the adjacent muscle and fascia that may be compressing the nerve," he says. "When patients undergo surgery for decompression of the supraorbital or supratrochlear nerve, we then perform an incision that is similar to the incision that we do when we are performing a cosmetic eyelid surgery."

Surrounding tissue is removed to relieve pressure on the nerve. Dr. Forte says many patients feel relief within weeks of nerve decompression surgery.

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John Zajac, a certified golf physical therapist at Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine, demonstrates the best pre-golf dynamic warmup stretches. 

Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

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Mayo Clinic doesn’t just advise golfers on stretches and strength. For 25 years, it has served as the official medical sponsor of the WM Phoenix Open, providing on-site care for athletes, event staff and spectators. Supporting one of the world’s largest golf events, from heat-related illness to musculoskeletal injuries, reflects deep expertise in both prevention and knowing when specialized care is needed. 

The golf swing requires coordinated rotation through the hips and upper back. When those areas are stiff, the lower spine often compensates, increasing strain and risk of injury. Spend 5-10 minutes warming up before each round. It helps improve performance and protects your joints. 

These golf warmup stretches help you stay healthy and out of the orthopedics office. See you on the green. 

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In this Mayo Clinic Minute, Zajac demonstrates the best pre-golf resistant exercises.
 
Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

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Resistance training

 Mayo Clinic doesn't just advise golfers on resistance exercises and strength. For 25 years, it has served as the official medical sponsor of the WM Phoenix Open, providing on-site care for athletes, event staff and spectators. Supporting one of the world's largest golf events, from heat-related illness to musculoskeletal injuries, reflects deep expertise in both prevention and knowing when specialized care is needed.
 
Resistance training is essential for golfers. It strengthens muscles, ligaments and tendons while improving core stability, mobility and functional strength. These benefits can translate into better swing control, more consistent contact and improved endurance throughout 18 holes. Just as important, targeted strength work helps protect the lower back, shoulders and wrists — areas commonly affected by golf-related injuries.
 

Golf exercises to consider

Zajac recommends focusing on three key areas:

• Rotator cuff and shoulder (rows/scapular strengthening): Strengthening the upper back and shoulder stabilizers supports posture and helps control the club throughout the swing.
• Core (plank and side plank): A strong core improves rotational stability and balance, allowing for more efficient power transfer while reducing strain on the spine.
• Glutes and legs (bridge exercises): Golf is played on one leg at a time. Building lower-body strength and balance enhances stability during the swing and helps generate power from the ground up.

 Perform these exercises on non-golf days two to three times per week. A consistent strength routine can help you stay steady, swing with confidence and avoid a season-ending bogey. 

Related post:

• Mayo Clinic Minute: Are the yips just nerves or something more?

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When surgery isn't an option, a liver transplant may be a lifesaving alternative. Mayo Clinic leads in this approach, combining expertise in oncology and transplantation to offer new hope for patients with advanced colorectal cancer.

Dr. Kris Croome, a Mayo Clinic transplant surgeon, explains how expanding treatment options improves outcomes.

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Learning that colorectal cancer has spread to the liver can be overwhelming. Because the liver is the most common site of spread, affecting about half of patients, a liver transplant may offer hope when other treatments aren't an option.

"Liver transplant for colorectal metastases is an important evolution in transplant oncology and turns a historically palliative disease into one where cure is possible," says Dr. Croome.

It's a complex process that requires experts from multiple teams working together before transplant.

"Usually, it's at least six months of chemotherapy, and we would like to see that the tumors are responding and that we're not seeing any spread of disease anywhere else," he says. "We really want the disease to be isolated to the liver as the primary tumor. So the tumor in the colon needs to be removed ahead of time."

Liver transplants can significantly improve survival in advanced colorectal cancer, with five-year survival rates exceeding 70%.

"It's the care that patients receive leading up to that and afterward as well, and we really take pride in that," says Dr. Croome.

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As the trend continues, Mayo Clinic surgical teams are using innovative, minimally invasive approaches to treat colon and rectal cancer — helping patients recover faster after surgery.

Dr. Dozois says screening helps detect and treat colorectal cancer early, and improvements in surgery are helping patients maintain quality of life.

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"We are seeing a pattern of younger patients with colorectal cancer, and when I say younger, I mean patients under age 50," says Dr. Dozois.

Colon cancer is often treated with surgery.

"When we see patients with a new colon cancer, we're often recommending surgery, which is to remove a segment of the colon," he says.

Rectal cancer may require a combination of therapies.

"It may get treatment with chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. It might be all three, and that's what we call a multimodality approach," Dr. Dozois says.

Minimally invasive surgery, including laparoscopic and robotic approaches, uses small incisions, cameras and specialized instruments/

"Patients can recover more quickly, they have less complications, and they can get back to their activities and work in a much quicker fashion than they used to in the past," he says.

Importance of colorectal cancer screening

"Screening is critical. Why? Because it saves lives."

Related post:

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Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

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Polyps in the colon can vary in size and shape. Some are more mushroom-shaped, but that's not always the case. 

"Some polyps spread out more like a bed of moss; they're flat," says Dr. Wallace.

Advances in imaging and tools help care teams detect and treat difficult polyps. 

"Technology has been clearly shown to improve our ability to find more polyps and reduce the miss rate for some of these flat, subtle polyps," says Dr. Wallace. 

Early detection leads to better outcomes. 

"Stage 1 cancer, so-called T1 cancer, we can actually remove that through an endoscope or through a colonoscope, specifically, in a curative way," says Dr. Wallace. "This is something that has had profound implications for patient care." 

Dr. Wallace adds that the most important step is to get screened. 

"Whatever test you choose, get screened," Dr. Wallace says. "This is a preventable cancer. It's one of the very few cancers that we can almost completely prevent. So getting screened starting at the age of 45 — one caveat is — if you have a family history of colon cancer, you need to start even earlier."

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Metabolic experts at Mayo Clinic say combining the two in some instances can be an effective way to treat obesity.

Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

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"Obesity is a disease, and to overcome it, we need to use all the modalities, or tools, we have available," says Dr. Omar Ghanem, a Mayo Clinic metabolic surgeon.

However, it's not a one-size-fits-all approach.

"Some patients might benefit only from medications, some patients might benefit only from surgery, but a portion of patients might benefit from the combined therapy," Dr. Ghanem says.

He says some patients experience greater weight loss when combining bariatric surgery, also called metabolic surgery, with GLP-1 medications. Ideal candidates include patients who start obesity treatment with a higher body mass index, those who are preparing to undergo a complex surgical procedure, such as a transplant, and patients who need to lose more weight for their overall health or those looking to maintain their weight after metabolic surgery.

"Neither GLP-1s nor bariatric surgery are magic. These are tools, and the patient has to use those tools correctly to be able to overcome obesity," Dr. Ghanem says. "Each case is different. Go to your provider, talk to your specialist, and trust them to help you make the right decision for your health. Our patients have to put a lot of effort to overcome the disease. They're not just choosing the easy way out, they're choosing the healthy way out."

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