Cardioembolic Infarction: A Renewed Topic of Interest

Cardioembolic infarction accounts for one quarter of all cerebral infarcts and is the most severe subtype of ischemic stroke. The rate of in-hospital death may be as high as 27% and a few patients are symptom-free at discharge from the hospital. Major cardiac sources of embolism are well-established and cardioembolic stroke is largely preventable. However, once stroke due to cardiac embolism has occurred, the likelihood of recurrence is relatively high (up to 10% for early embolic recurrence). Therefore, efforts at primary prevention for major-risk cardioembolic sources and secondary prevention of recurrence are very important. Although large series of patients with cardioembolic infarction have been reported in the literature, some clinical aspects of the natural course of the disease are still poorly defined.