BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Current research focused on stroke in the setting of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery has missed important opportunities for additional understanding by failing to consider the range of different stroke mechanisms. We developed and implemented a classification system to identify the distribution and timing of stroke subtypes. METHODS We conducted a regional s...

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE Transarterial lead implantation in the left ventricle or aorta is a rare complication. Percutaneous lead removal is associated with significant thromboembolic and bleeding risk. We present two cases of lead removal from the left ventricle via the left subclavian artery with concurrent carotid embolic protection followed by stent graft placement in the subclavian artery. MET...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In contrast to middle cerebral artery territory strokes, anterior cerebral artery strokes (ACAS) occur rarely. The low frequency of ACAS, in relation to middle cerebral artery territory strokes, may be explained by differences in ACA and middle cerebral artery anatomy influencing their respective flow-directed embolism rates. We aimed to determine whether variability in A...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Stroke is a potentially devastating complication of cardiac surgery. Identifying predictors of radiographic infarct may lead to improved stroke prevention for surgical patients. METHODS We reviewed 129 postoperative brain magnetic resonance imagings from a prospective study of patients undergoing surgical aortic valve replacement. Acute infarcts were classified as water...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Carotid angioplasty and stenting (CAS) has a higher incidence of periprocedural stroke compared with endarterectomy. Identifying CAS steps with the highest likelihood of embolization may have important implications. We evaluated CAS safety by correlating the findings of procedural transcranial Doppler with postprocedure diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) lesions. METHODS ...

Increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines have been recorded after the onset of transient or permanent brain ischemia and are usually associated with exacerbation of ischemic injury. Embolic stroke model is more relevant to the pathophysiological situation in such patients, because the majority of ischemic injuries in humans are induced by old thrombi that originate from the heart and carot...

Background: Since its introduction, percutaneous aspiration embolectomy (PAE) has become a well-known, widely accepted and frequently applied technique for the treatment of acute arterial embolic infrainguinal vascular occlusion in lower limb ischemia. Purpose: To evaluate the technical and clinical success of sole percutaneous aspiration embolectomy (PAE) for the treatment of acute arterial em...

INTRODUCTION Last year the European Society of Echocardiography published recommendations for the use of echocardiography in identifying potential sources of embolism as a cause of ischemic stroke in the absence of other cerebrovascular diseases. Both transthoracic echocardiography and transesophageal echocardiography play a fundamental role in the assessment, diagnosis and management of the em...

OBJECTIVES CHADS(2) score predicts embolic risk in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF), but also bleeding risk in patients receiving oral anticoagulation (OAC). Our objective is to analyze the effectiveness and safety of OAC in patients with NVAF in daily clinical practice, according to embolic risk evaluated by means of CHADS(2) score. METHODS All consecutive outpatients wit...