Beau Biden's Stroke Shows Younger Adults Also at Risk
May 12, 2010— -- Doctors treating Beau Biden, the 41-year-old son of Joe Biden, and Delaware's attorney general, have not yet revealed the underlying cause or the nature of the "mild stroke" that he experienced on Tuesday, but neurologists said that such strokes can arise from any of a number of underlying factors.
Dr. Timothy Gardner, medical director of the Center for Heart and Vascular Surgery at Christiana Care Health System and the doctor who treated Biden, said he likely will have a full recovery.
"[He is] fully alert, in stable condition and has full motor and speech skills," Gardner said in a statement.
Hospital officials said Biden was communicating with his wife and parents, who were with him. On Tuesday evening he was transferred to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia for "further observation and examination," according to the vice president's office.
Biden's doctors have not yet revealed whether his stroke was hemorrhagic (due to a blood vessel bursting in his brain) or ischemic (brought about by a clot that blocked the blood supply to part of his brain). The distinction is important, as treatments for the two kinds of stroke differ greatly.
Still, some doctors say that even when more details are available, the exact cause of a stroke can be difficult to pinpoint.
ABC News senior health and medical editor Dr. Richard Besser spoke with Dr. Anthony Furlan, co-director of the Neurological Institute at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Furlan said that, indeed, in most cases of stroke in patients younger than 50, the exact cause remains a mystery.
"Often after a stroke, they will find a [heart-related cause] that was undetected," Furlan said.
One such heart problem is known as patent foramen ovale -- a small hole in the heart that allows clots to pass from one side of the heart to the other. Sometimes these clots can enter the brain and bring on a stroke.
