Stanislav Šutovský1, Róbert Petrovič2, Pavol Šiarnik1, Branislav Kollár1, Adriana Reptová3, Peter Turčáni1
Stroke represents a serious medical and neurological problem. It is a major cause of neurological disability and social malfunction in survived patients. Despite of the fact that stroke management achieved in last decade critical progress, we are still far from cure or returning the patients in the normal social functioning, mainly in the severe stroke cases. This fact underlines a need to improve the stroke management in the acute phase as well as to improve the primary and secondary prevention. Primary prevention appears as critical, due to a fact that factors tending to stroke develop during a lifetime and stroke is their end stage. Genetic susceptibility is an important factor accentuating others risk factors and is necessary to take it in the consideration in primary prevention. In our article we summarize the role of genetics in the stroke management, its options and limitations. We also analyze particular genetic technics used in the study of genetic risk. We focus mainly on the genetics approaches and techniques used in the investigation of polygenic stroke. We describe most common forms of polymorphisms encountered in the human genome and describe their potential influence on gene functions. We have included examples, where appropriate, for those polymorphisms which have been reported to be related to stroke.