New insights in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of stroke: its relation with atrial fibrillation

[摘要] This special issue of the Netherlands Heart Journal mainly deals with a variety of aspects in patients with atrial fibrillation, including stroke. At the recent American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012, held in New Orleans, USA from 1 to 3 February, several very interesting presentations around the themes atrial fibrillation and stroke were given. In the first presentation it was reported that the use of outpatient cardiac telemetry over 21 days allowed the detection of occult paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in almost 20% of patients with cryptogenic stroke. Data were obtained from 156 patients (mean age 68.5 years) evaluated by mobile cardiac outpatient telemetry monitoring within 6 months of a cryptogenic stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA). It was reported that the detection of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation significantly increased from 3.8% in the initial 48 hours, to 9.2% at 7 days, to 15.1% at 14 days, and to 19.5% by 21 days (p < 0.05).

[学科分类] 心脏病和心血管学