Cardioembolic stroke diagnosis using blood biomarkers
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Victor Llombart, Teresa Garcia-Berrocoso, Alejandro Bustamante
1Neurovascular Research Laboratory, Institut de Recerca Vall d'Hebron. Barcelona, Spain. Neurovascular Unit. Department of Neurology. Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall d'Hebron. Barcelona. Spain. llombs@hotmail.com.
Insights
Identifying specific biomarkers for cardioembolic stroke is crucial. This review explores protein, transcriptomic, and genetic markers, plus those linked to atrial fibrillation, to improve stroke diagnosis and treatment.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Cardiology
- Biomarker Discovery
Background:
- Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability globally.
- Cardioembolic strokes constitute a significant portion of ischemic strokes, with many cases remaining cryptogenic.
- Current diagnostic methods often fail to determine stroke etiology definitively.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide an updated review of cardioembolic stroke-related biomarkers.
- To explore potential biomarkers at protein, transcriptomic, and genetic levels.
- To investigate biomarkers associated with atrial fibrillation for future cardioembolic stroke detection.
Main Methods:
- Literature review focusing on cardioembolic stroke biomarkers.
- Analysis of protein, transcriptomic, and genetic marker studies.
- Examination of biomarkers linked to atrial fibrillation.
Main Results:
- Several protein, transcriptomic, and genetic markers show potential for identifying cardioembolic stroke.
- Biomarkers associated with atrial fibrillation may serve as future indicators.
- Biomarker utilization could reduce cryptogenic stroke diagnoses.
Conclusions:
- Biomarkers offer a promising approach to complement diagnostics for cardioembolic stroke.
- Accurate etiological diagnosis aids in tailored treatment and recurrence prevention.
- Further research into these biomarkers is warranted for clinical application.
Abstract:
Stroke is one of the main causes of death and disability in the world. Cardioembolic etiology accounts for approximately one fifth of all ischemic strokes whereas 25-30% remains undetermined even after an advanced diagnostic workup. Despite there is not any biomarker currently approved to distinguish cardioembolic stroke among other etiologies in clinical practice the use of biomarkers represents a promising valuable complement to determine stroke etiology reducing the number of cryptogenic strokes and aiding in the prescription of the most appropriated primary and secondary treatments in order to minimize therapeutic risks and to avoid recurrences. In this review we present an update about specific cardioembolic stroke-related biomarkers at a protein, transcriptomic and genetic level. Finally, we also focused on reported biomarkers associated with atrial fibrillation (a cardiac illness strongly related with cardioembolic stroke subtype) thus with a potential to become biomarkers to detect cardioembolic stroke in the future.
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