Cardiac thrombus in acute ischemic stroke: impact on endovascular thrombectomy utilization

Cardiac embolism plays a very significant role in acute ischemic strokes (AIS), constituting approximately one-third of cases. The origin of these emboli often stems from intracardiac thrombi in the left atrium or left ventricle. Utilizing the National Readmission Database from 2016 to 2019, we investigate the prevalence of cardiac thrombi in AIS patients and explore their potential correlation with endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) utilization, and mortality rates. Among 1,272,456 AIS patients, 0.6% had concurrent cardiac thrombus, with an increasing trend observed over the study period (P value < 0.001). The cardiac thrombus cohort showed a higher prevalence of comorbidities such as congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation. After propensity-score matching, groups were well-balanced in terms of baseline characteristics. Patients within the cardiac thrombus cohort experienced a longer hospital stay (median 5 days vs. 3 days), but no significant difference in mortality was noted. Importantly, the cardiac thrombus cohort demonstrated a higher frequency of EVT utilization, suggesting a link to larger vessel occlusions. Despite matching based on atrial fibrillation, the EVT utilization in the cardiac thrombus cohort remained high, highlighting a significant association. While 30-day readmission rates were comparable, cardiac thrombus patients faced a higher risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and hemorrhagic stroke, likely attributed to anticoagulation use. Limitations include potential miscoding in the administrative database and a lack of detailed imaging findings. In conclusion, this study highlights the increased likelihood of EVT in AIS patients with cardiac thrombus, possibly indicative of larger vessel occlusion associated with cardiac thrombus.