Definition of "vasospasm" []

• A sudden constriction of a blood vessel, causing a reduction in blood flow. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Treatments available today are only minimally effective because the doses that can be tolerated by patients are too low to prevent certain types of delayed complications such as vasospasm, a type of stroke that is a leading cause of permanent brain damage or death after brain injury, "said Dr. Macdonald."
• "Cocaine can produce death in rare instances, usually from coronary artery vasospasm, and sometimes even from a stroke."
• "Far less work has centered on the genetic determinants of cerebral vasospasm, the predisposition to delayed cerebral injury, and the determinants of ensuing functional outcome after aSAH."