Value of routine echocardiography in the management of stroke.

Value of routine echocardiography in the management of stroke. CMAJ. 2019 Aug 06;191(31):E853-E859 Authors: Fralick M, Goldberg N, Rohailla S, Guo Y, Burke MJ, Lapointe-Shaw L, Kwan JL, Weinerman AS, Rawal S, Tang T, Razak F, Verma AA Abstract BACKGROUND: Transthoracic echocardiography is routinely performed in patients with stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) to help plan secondary stroke management, but recent data evaluating its usefulness in this context are lacking. We sought to evaluate the value of echocardiography for identifying clinically actionable findings for secondary stroke prevention. METHODS: We conducted a multicentre cohort study of patients admitted to hospital with stroke or TIA between 2010 and 2015 at 2 academic hospitals in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Clinically actionable echocardiographic findings for secondary stroke prevention included cardiac thrombus, patent foramen ovale, atrial myxoma or valvular vegetation. We identified patient characteristics associated with clinically actionable findings using logistic regression. RESULTS: Of the 1862 patients with stroke or TIA we identified, 1272 (68%) had at least 1 echocardiogram. Nearly all echocardiograms were transthoracic; 1097 (86%) were normal, 1 (0.08%) had an atrial myxoma, 2 (0.2%) had a valvular vegetation, 11 (0.9%) had a cardiac thrombus and 66 (5.2%) had a PFO. Patent foramen ovale was less likely among patients older than 60 ye...
Source: cmaj - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: CMAJ Source Type: research