Carotid artery is the blood vessel that carries the oxygenated blood from heart to brain .

the blockage in this artery causes cerbrovascular disease. This is also called as brain attack. this occurs due to the blocking of blood supply to the brain .this will occur due to the narrowing of the artery or due to the accumulation cholesterol, which is also called as plaque in the artery that prevents the blood supply to the brain. if the lack of blood supply last for 3- 6hrs the damage is permanent. its leads to paralysis. which effects the speech ,thinking, personality and memory. The supply of blood to brain is prevented because of atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries "inside the carotid artery. The building up of fatty substance like cholesterol also blocks the passage of blood .stroke may also .occur due to other conditions such as intracerbral hemorrhage which means the internal bleeding, blockage of tiny arteries inside the brain ,bleeding in spinal fluids ,etc. most of the reasons and risk factors for this disease are mostly like the heart disease such as age, smoking, drinking, high levels of low density cholesterol, blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, family history having the disease and lack of exercise, etc; There are no specific symptoms in this carotid atory disease. it may occurs suddenly at any time. But there are few chance to identify and take care priorly to avoid the risk of major stroke to prevent the brain from severe damage. Some of them are: sudden and serious head ache, dizziness or confusion, numbness in arm, face, leg or one side of the body, sudden loss of vision in one eye or in both eyes, or difficulty to see clearly, lack of co ordination in body, loss of balance difficulty in walking, difficult to speak, hard to swallow .if the above symptoms are lost for few minutes or hours and resolve then it called as transient ischemic attack .it should be treated as medical emergency. Because on one know whether and when it turns into major stroke. the persons with heart diseases, with above symptoms and with transient ischemic attack should have regular examination with their doctor to prevent the major attack .the doctor will examine the arteries at neck n suggest the further investigation steps , if he finds any difference in the arteries .some of them are Doppler ultra sound imaging, it checks the blood flow and thickness of the carotid artery, cerebral an geography, it facilitates the doctor to see the blood flow in carotid artery, allows to see the blockages in the live X-ray ,magnetic resonance angiography ,it gives the detailed and clear picture of arteries in the brain. Medicines such as aspirin are prescribed to reduce the risk of stroke due to blockage by preventing the blood clot .doctors may also give the medication to reduce the cholesterol levels and the blood thinners.

However the doctor recommended life style habits plays major role in preventing the severe stroke. Such as; regular exercise daily at least 30 minutes per day, quitting alcohol and smoking, maintain the blood pressure and diabetes ,taking the food with low cholesterol transfatts ;using less salt.