Despite early perceptions that distal embolization of atherosclerotic plaque contents was a rare event during balloon angioplasty, it has now become clear that manipulation of atherosclerotic lesions with wires, balloons, atherectomy catheters, or stents does liberate plaque debris. The tendency of this liberated debris to cause clinical manifestations depends on the amount of debris, the size ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Spontaneous echo contrast in cardiac chamber has been indicated as a source of cerebral embolism. The nature of the echocardiographic smokelike signal is still not fully understood. This study was designed to regenerate spontaneous echo contrast and verify its thromboembolic characters in an in vitro model. METHODS Spontaneous echo contrast was reproduced in an expansio...

The cardiomyopathy that is comnmon among the South African Bantu population has been described by diverse names, among which are "nutritional heart disease" and "cardiovascular collagenosis with parietal endocardial thrombosis". While its cause is obscure, pathologists are in agreement regarding its principal morbid anatomical features. Among the most striking of these is the endocardial thromb...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE We aimed to investigate whether the time period of transcranial Doppler monitoring for embolic signals can be reduced without loss of clinical yield compared with routinely performed 1-hour monitoring. METHODS Investigations on the basis of a post hoc analysis of a previously published cohort of 86 patients (55 men, 31 women; mean age 60.6 years) with a nondisabling art...

Objective(s) Previous studies have demonstrated that pretreatment with alpha-tocotrienol (a-TCT) can reduce ischemic damage in mice following middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion. It is also reported to decrease stroke- dependent brain tissue damage in 12-Lox-deficient mice and spontaneously hypertensive rats. In the present study, the neuroprotective effects of a-TCT and rosiglitazone (RGZ)...

A left ventricular rupture due to embolic myocardial infarction is extremely rare. A 72-year-old woman developed an acute embolic myocardial infarction and mitral regurgitation due to infective endocarditis. Two days after the infarction, a left ventricular free wall rupture occurred after transesophageal echo examination. She received an epicardial patch and mitral valve replacement. Periopera...

Lipoprotein(a) is a plasma lipoprotein and known cardiovascular risk factor, most recently implicated in the development of high-risk carotid atherosclerotic plaques without significant carotid stenosis. We present a case of a young African-American female with recurrent embolic strokes of undetermined source. After our thorough investigation, we identified the link between a small, irregular p...

Background Cryptogenic embolic strokes of undetermined source (ESUS) are thought to comprise about 25% of all ischemic strokes. Late-Gadolinium MRI (LGE-MRI) allows detection and quantification of left atrial structural remodeling (LA-SRM). We sought to compare the degree of LA-SRM using LGE-MRI in patients with ESUS and in patients with embolic stroke of know origin, especially in those with a...

Nonbacterial thrombotic endocarditis (NBTE) is difficult to detect antemortem and is often not suspected until embolic events occur. Transthoracic echocardiography is useful in diagnosing NBTE, but it may be limited by suboptimal imaging and resolution. Herein we describe the first reported case of NBTE diagnosed by transesophageal echocardiography. As early detection and treatment may avert si...

We present the case of a 49-year-old woman with neurological symptoms and severe atherosclerosis of aortic arch branches affecting subclavian and carotid arteries. Our patient has a history of transient ischemic attack and recurrent paresthesias of her right arm. We present a double access intervention using a distal embolic neuroprotection device during ostial right subclavian artery recanaliz...