[Paradoxical embolism in patients with ischemic stroke]

The present study included 84 patients with ischemic stroke of known and unknown etiology. The risk of paradoxical embolism (PE) was evaluated using contrast transthoracic echocardiography, contrast transcranial Doppler monitoring, and transoesophagal echocardiography. The majority 64%) of the patients with strokes of known etiology were found to be predisposed to PE because they had the patent interatrial foramen (PIF) and pulmonary shunt (51 and 13 respectively). PIF was of small functional and anatomical size. Predisposition to PE in most patients with cryptogenic stroke (94%) was due to the presence of PIF (in 88%) and was often the sole cause of the stroke. These patients frequently had the shunt of a large functional size.