Background:Guidelines recommend echocardiography to screen for structural sources of cardioembolism in patients with ischemic stroke. Cardiac CT is a promising alternative as a first-line screening method. We aimed to determine whether cardiac CT, acquired during the initial stroke imaging protocol, has a higher yield for detecting high-risk cardio-aortic sources of embolism than transthoracic echocardiography (TTE).Methods:We performed a prospective, single center, observational cohort study and included consecutive adult patients with acute ischemic stroke who underwent ECG-gated cardiac CT during the initial stroke imaging protocol. Patients also underwent routine stroke work-up, including TTE. The main outcome was the proportion of patients with a predefined high-risk cardio-aortic source of embolism on cardiac CT versus TTE in patients undergoing both investigations.Results:Between May 2018 and November 2020, 774 patients with a suspected ischemic stroke underwent hyperacute cardiac CT. We excluded 228 patients with a diagnosis other than ischemic stroke and 94 because they did not provide informed consent. Therefore, 452 patients (59.3% male, median age 72) were included. The median additional scan time of cardiac CT was 6 (interquartile range 5–7) minutes with poor scan quality in only 3%.In total, 350/452 (77.4%) patients underwent TTE, 99 of which were performed in an outpatient setting. Reasons for not undergoing TTE were: death (33, 7.3%) and TTE being too burdensome to perform in the outpatient setting (69, 15.3%). A high-risk cardio-aortic source of embolism was detected in 40/350 (11.4%) patients on CT, compared to 17/350 (4.9%) on TTE (odds ratio 5.60, 95%CI: 2.28–16.33). Cardiac thrombus was the most frequent finding (7.1% vs 0.6%). The diagnostic yield of cardiac CT in the full study population was 54/452 (12.2%). Among 175 patients with cryptogenic stroke after routine work-up, cardiac CT identified a cause of the stroke in 11 (6.3%).Discussion:Cardiac CT acquired in the acute phase of ischemic stroke is technically feasible and has a superior diagnostic yield compared to TTE for the detection of high-risk sources of embolism. Cardiac CT may be considered as an alternative to TTE to screen for cardioembolism.
Background: Cardiac thrombi are a major risk factor for ischemic stroke, but are rarely diagnosed in the acute phase. We examined characteristics and functional outcome of patients with ischemic stroke and a concomitant cardiac thrombus detected on cardiac CT performed in the acute phase. Patients and Methods: We used data from “Mind the Heart,” a prospective cohort study in which consecutive adult patients with acute ischemic stroke underwent prospective ECG-gated cardiac CT during their acute stroke imaging protocol. We compared characteristics, functional outcome (modified Rankin scale) and stroke recurrence rate at 90 days of patients with a cardiac thrombus on CT (defined as filling defect <100 Hounsfield Units) to those without a cardiac thrombus. Results: Among 452 included patients, cardiac CT detected 41 thrombi in 38 (8%) patients. Thrombi were most often located in the left atrial appendage (31/38 [82%]). Patients with a cardiac thrombus more frequently had intracranial occlusions in multiple vascular territories (5% vs 0.5%, p = 0.04) and a higher baseline NIHSS score (17 [IQR 6–22] vs 5 [IQR 2–3], p < 0.001) compared to patients without a cardiac thrombus. In 13/38 (34%) patients with a cardiac thrombus, no atrial fibrillation was detected. A cardiac thrombus was associated with worse functional outcome (adjusted common odds ratio 3.18 95%CI 1.68–6.00). Recurrence rate was not significantly different (8% vs 4%, aOR 1.50 (0.39–5.82). Discussion and Conclusion: Cardiac CT detected a cardiac thrombus in one in every 12 patients with acute ischemic stroke, and these patients had more severe deficits, multivessel occlusions, and a worse functional outcome.
Background Cardiac CT acquired during the acute stroke imaging protocol is an emerging alternative to transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) to screen for sources of cardioembolism. Currently, its diagnostic accuracy to detect patent foramen ovale (PFO) is unclear. Methods This was a substudy of Mind the Heart, a prospective cohort in which consecutive adult patients with acute ischemic stroke underwent prospective ECG-gated cardiac CT during the initial stroke imaging protocol. Patients also underwent TTE. We included patients < 60 years who underwent TTE with agitated saline contrast (cTTE) and assessed sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive value of cardiac CT for the detection of PFO using cTTE as the reference standard. Results Of 452 patients in Mind the Heart, 92 were younger than 60 years. Of these, 59 (64%) patients underwent both cardiac CT and cTTE and were included. Median age was 54 (IQR 49–57) years and 41/59 (70%) were male. Cardiac CT detected a PFO in 5/59 (8%) patients, 3 of which were confirmed on cTTE. cTTE detected a PFO in 12/59 (20%) patients. Sensitivity and specificity of cardiac CT were 25% (95% CI 5–57%) and 96% (95% CI 85–99%), respectively. Positive and negative predictive values were 59% (95% CI 14–95) and 84% (95% CI 71–92). Conclusion Prospective ECG-gated cardiac CT acquired during the acute stroke imaging protocol does not appear to be a suitable screening method for PFO due to its low sensitivity. Our data suggest that if cardiac CT is used as a first-line screening method for cardioembolism, additional echocardiography remains indicated in young patients with cryptogenic stroke, in whom PFO detection would have therapeutic consequences. These results need to be confirmed in larger cohorts.
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