LOW INCIDENCE OF ATRIAL FIBRILLATION IN RECURRENT STROKES IN A COHORT OF CRYPTOGENIC STROKE PATIENTS ON LONG TERM CARDIAC MONITORING

Author(s):  
pramod sethi
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. i
Author(s):  
Joerg Berrouschot ◽  

Stroke kills or disables millions of people every year. If the cause of a stroke is known, it is often possible to reduce the risk of a second stroke by appropriate patient management. However, up to a third of all ischaemic strokes remain cryptogenic, with no identified cause. Many of these strokes are suspected to be due to atrial fibrillation (AF), which is difficult to diagnose accurately. Small, leadless, insertable cardiac monitors (ICMs) gather data over three years, making them superior to other monitoring methods. The current review surveys the substantial supporting clinical data for the ICM Reveal XT, including the recently completed CRYSTAL-AF randomised clinical trial. The results consistently report previously undiagnosed AF in around 30 % of patients with cryptogenic stroke. ICM-provided data have direct consequences, as patients with AF-related stroke are indicated for protective oral anticoagulant therapies. Thus, ICMs will be important in the management of cryptogenic stroke, identifying and enabling patients with AF to receive life-saving therapies.


Heart Rhythm ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. S62
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Reynolds ◽  
Candace L. Gunnarsson ◽  
Michael P. Ryan ◽  
Sarah Rosemas ◽  
Paul D. Ziegler ◽  
...  

Stroke ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal krawczyk ◽  
Sebastián Fridman ◽  
Maria Bres Bullrich ◽  
Palak Shah ◽  
Juan C Vargas-Gonzalez ◽  
...  

Introduction: Approximately 25% of strokes are classified as cryptogenic (CS), while greater than 50% have an identifiable or ‘known’ etiology (KS). Several studies have demonstrated that prolonged cardiac monitoring (PCM) after cryptogenic stroke substantially increases the detection of atrial fibrillation (AF), but the yield of PCM in KS stroke is unknown. As a result, the majority of guidelines recommend restricting PCM to patients with cryptogenic stroke. If the detection of AF in KS is no different to cryptogenic stroke, it would suggest that this group too would similarly benefit from PCM, with the potential to impact therapeutic decisions (e.g. initiating anticoagulation). Methods: In a cross-sectional study, we compared AF detection by PCM (minimum of 48 hrs) between CS and KS patients without a previous diagnosis of AF. We developed a multivariate logistic regression model by including known and significant clinical, echocardiographic, and radiological factors known to be associated with the detection of AF. We reported results as odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results: We included 561 ischemic stroke patients, 376 with CS and 185 with KS. The median duration of PCM was 167h for CS and 48h for KS. AF was detected in 30 of 376 (8%) CS patients, and 20 of 185 (7.9%) KS patients. Age, history of thyroid disease, clinical presentation of dysarthria, wake-up stroke, and left atrial volume index on echocardiography were significantly associated with a new diagnosis of AF after stroke in the univariable analysis and were thus included in the logistic regression analysis. Additionally, duration of PCM was included in the multivariate model. After adjustment for potential confounders, AF detection by PCM was not significantly higher for CS than KS (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.25-3.32, P=0.94). Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge this is the first study directly comparing the incidence of AF between CS and KS as the pre-specified primary outcome. Our findings suggest that CS and KS patients have similar rates of AF detection by PCM. Future prospective research is required to confirm these findings and to determine the cost-effectiveness of PCM in non-cryptogenic stroke patients.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Archit Bhatt ◽  
Arshad Majid ◽  
Anmar Razak ◽  
Mounzer Kassab ◽  
Syed Hussain ◽  
...  

Background and Purpose. Paroxysmal Atrial fibrillation/Flutter (PAF) detection rates in cryptogenic strokes have been variable. We sought to determine the percentage of patients with cryptogenic stroke who had PAF on prolonged non-invasive cardiac monitoring.Methods and Results. Sixty-two consecutive patients with stroke and TIA in a single center with a mean age of 61 (+/− 14) years were analyzed. PAF was detected in 15 (24%) patients. Only one patient reported symptoms of shortness of breath during the episode of PAF while on monitoring, and 71 (97%) of these 73 episodes were asymptomatic. A regression analysis revealed that the presence of PVCs (ventricular premature beats) lasting more than 2 minutes (OR 6.3, 95% CI, 1.11–18.92;P=.042) and strokes (high signal on Diffusion Weighted Imaging) (OR 4.3, 95% CI, 5–36.3;P=.041) predicted PAF. Patients with multiple DWI signals were more likely than solitary signals to have PAF (OR 11.1, 95% CI, 2.5–48.5,P<.01).Conclusion. Occult PAF is common in cryptogenic strokes, and is often asymptomatic. Our data suggests that up to one in five patients with suspected cryptogenic strokes and TIAs have PAF, especially if they have PVCs and multiple high DWI signals on MRI.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenichi Todo ◽  
Tomonori Iwata ◽  
Ryosuke Doijiri ◽  
Hiroshi Yamagami ◽  
Masafumi Morimoto ◽  
...  

Objective: To determine whether frequent premature atrial contractions (PAC) predict atrial fibrillation (AF) in cryptogenic stroke patients, we analyzed the association between frequent PACs in 24-h Holter electrocardiogram recording and AF detected by insertable cardiac monitoring (ICM). Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a database of 66 consecutive patients with cryptogenic stroke who received ICM implantation between October 2016 and March 2018 at 5 stroke centers. We included the follow-up data until June 2018 in this analysis. We defined frequent PACs as the upper quartile of the 66 patients. We analyzed the association of frequent PACs with AF detected by ICM. Results: Frequent PACs were defined as >222 PACs per a 24-h period. The proportion of patients with newly detected AF by ICM was higher in patients with frequent PACs than those without (50% [8/16] vs. 22% [11/50], p < 0.05). Frequent PACs were associated with AF detection and time to the first AF after adjustment for CHADS2 score after index stroke, high plasma ­B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP; >100 pg/mL) or serum ­N-terminal pro-BNP levels (>300 pg/mL), and large left atrial diameter (≥45 mm). Conclusion: High frequency of PACs in cryptogenic stroke may be a strong predictor of AF detected by ICM.


Stroke ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Santucci ◽  
Takashi Shimoyama ◽  
Ken Uchino

Introduction: Electrocardiogram (ECG) findings of premature atrial contraction and prolonged PR interval are associated with risk of onset atrial fibrillation (AF) in cryptogenic stroke. We sought to see if normal ECG and AF incidence is incompletely understood. Methods: From a prospective single-hospital stroke registry from 2018, we identified ischemic stroke patients who had ECG done on admission for review. We excluded patients with AF on admission ECG, history of AF, and implanted device with cardiac monitoring capability. Normal ECG was interpreted based on the standardized reporting guidelines for ECG studies evaluating risk stratification of emergency department patients. Stroke subtype was diagnosed according to the TOAST classification: large artery atherosclerosis (LAA), small vessel occlusion (SVO), cardioembolism, others/undetermined and embolic stoke of undetermined source (ESUS) criteria. We compared the incidence of newly diagnosed AF during hospitalization and from outpatient cardiac event monitoring between normal and abnormal ECG. Results: Of the 558 consecutive acute ischemic stroke patients, we excluded 135 with AF on admission ECG or history of AF and 9 with implanted devices. Of the remaining 414 patients that were included in the study, ESUS (31.2%) was the most frequent stroke subtype, followed by LAA (30.0%), SVO (14.0%), others/undetermined (15.7%), and cardioembolism (9.2%). Normal ECG was observed in 125 patients (30.2%). Cardioembolic subtype was less frequent in the normal versus abnormal ECG group (1.6% vs. 12.5%, p<0.001). New AF was detected in 17/414 patients (4.1%) during hospitalization. Of these 17 patients, none had normal ECG (0/125) and all had abnormal ECG (17/289, 5.9%) (p=0.002). After discharge, of 111 patients undergoing 4-week outpatient cardiac monitoring, new AF was detected in 16 (14.4%). Of these 16 patients, only 1 had a normal ECG (1/35, 2.9%) while 15 had abnormal ECG (15/76, 19.7%) (p=0.02). Conclusions: Normal ECG at admission for acute ischemic stroke is associated with low likelihood of detection of new atrial fibrillation in either the inpatient or outpatient setting.


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