Multimodality cardiac imaging in ischemic stroke: insights into the heart-brain interaction.

Background: Annually, approximately 7.6 million individuals experience a new ischemic stroke, and roughly 25% of all ischemic strokes are cardiogenic in origin, carrying a high risk of recurrence, death and disability. To prevent future ischemic strokes, especially in younger individuals, it is crucial to detect and treat direct and indirect cardioembolic sources.

A method for measuring the angle between left atrial and left ventricular long axes using 3D echocardiography.

Background: Left ventricle (LV) optimized views are routinely used for left atrial (LA) volume and strain measurements on 2D echocardiography. This might be a source of the error because of the variation of the angle between the left atrial and left ventricle long axes (LA-LV angle), leading to foreshortening of the LA.

Methods: We investigated two novel parameters: the angle between the left atrial and left ventricle long axes (LA-LV angle) and its deviation from the 4-chamber plane.

MRI-derived cardiac washout is slowed in the left ventricle and associated with left ventricular non-compaction in young patients with cryptogenic ischemic stroke.

To elucidate underlying disease mechanisms, we compared transition of gadolinium-based contrast agent bolus in cardiac chambers in magnetic resonance imaging between young patents with cryptogenic ischemic stroke and stroke-free controls. We included 30 patients aged 18-50 years with cryptogenic ischemic stroke from the prospective Searching for Explanations for Cryptogenic Stroke in the Young: Revealing the Etiology, Triggers and Outcome (NCT01934725) study and 30 age- and gender-matched stroke-free controls. Dynamic contrast-enhanced T1-weighted first-pass perfusion images were acquired at 1.