It is estimated that migraines affect up to 12 percent of the general population. These headaches can be extremely painful and disabling. Furthermore, the extreme pain can be a source of angst as some people may fear them as a sign of something ominous such as a brain tumour - which they are most often not.

According the world health organisation, stroke is the second most common cause of death after ischaemic heart disease worldwide.
Stroke is a neurological deficit that occurs suddenly. It occurs when perfusion to the brain is interrupted by either a thrombus (clot in the blood vessels of the brain), embolism (a clot that migrated from elsewhere in the to the brain) and intracerebral bleeding.