Causes of Cardioembolic Stroke

A variety of heart diseases can predispose patients to the formation of clots within the heart, including atrial fibrillation, a recent heart attack, dilated cardiomyopathy (stretching and poor pumping action of the heart chambers), and diseases of the heart valves. These abnormalities can cause blood flow to slow down in parts of the heart; whenever blood slows, it tends to clot. In order to prevent these clots from forming, doctors put patients on medications that help reduce their occurrence. Specific cardiac risk factors include atrial fibrillation, acute myocardial infarction, left ventricular aneurysms, prosthetic heart valves and rheumatic heart disease.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common heart condition that causes stroke. AF is caused when the two upper chambers of the heart (atria) beat rapidly and unpredictably. This causes the atrial walls to wriggle without contracting. Blood flow tends to slow down in this non-beating chamber, allowing clots to form. AF increases stroke risk up to six times. About 15 percent of all people who have a stroke have AF.

Diagnosis of Cardioembolic Stroke

Traditionally, an echocardiogram is used to evaluate the heart in stroke victims. Echocardiograms use ultrasound to look inside the heart for clots and other potential causes of cardioembolic stroke.

Recently, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has emerged as a noninvasive imaging technique that can provide additional and complementary information to that obtained by echocardiography. MRI uses harmless magnetic fields that are used to take detailed pictures of the heart. It generates three-dimensional views of the heart, as well as surrounding organs, to create a larger diagnostic window into the patient's health.

The combination of MRI and echocardiography of the heart provides the optimal imaging assesment of stroke patients, leading to improved detection of not only the potential source of the stroke, but the underlying cause.


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