Excessive supraventricular ectopic activity and future onset of atrial fibrillation in patients with cryptogenic stroke

Although atrial fibrillation (AF) is a leading preventable cause of ischemic stroke,1,2 after the initial evaluation, approximately 30% of all stroke events are finally characterised as cryptogenic.3,4 However, nowadays with the use of prolonged cardiac rhythm monitoring, studies exist to reveal the existence of silent, subclinical AF in those patients, or even the presence of excessive ectopic atrial activity that may precede it.5,6 In particular, such methods can detect and quantify premature atrial complexes (PACs) and short supraventricular runs (SVRs), which, up until recently, have been considered benign electrophysiological phenomena.

Source: Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases - October 30, 2022 Category: Neurology Authors: Christos Gogos, Elias Zarvalis, Panteleimon Pantelidis, Foteini Davora, Asterios Karakanas, Dimitrios Pitetzis, Nikolaos Stamatiadis, Vasileios Moschovidis, Melani Konstantinidou, Evangelos Oikonomou, Georgia Deretzi, Jobst Rudolf, Ioannis Styliadis Source Type: research