Nearly 40% of ischaemic strokes remain cryptogenic when no clear aetiology is identified after a thorough initial investigation. Two recent articles in Stroke described extended arrhythmia monitoring modalities to reveal paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in patients with ischaemic stroke, with implications for decisions regarding anticoagulation.
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J. L. Halperin has received consulting fees from Bayer AG HealthCare, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi Sankyo, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis for advisory activities involving the development of new anticoagulant drugs. He receives consulting fees from Biotronik, Inc. as Co-Chairman of the Steering Committee for the IMPACT clinical trial and from Medtronic as a member of the Steering Committee of the REVEAL-AF study. He served on the Operations Committee for the PALLAS clinical trial, sponsored by Sanofi-Aventis. He serves on the Executive Steering Committee of the GLORIA-AF Registry, sponsored by Boehringer Ingeheim, and as Chairman of the Data and Safety Monitoring Committee for a clinical trial comparing ticagrelor and clopidogrel for prevention of major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with peripheral arterial disease, sponsored by AstraZeneca. D. Pain declares no competing interests.
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Pain, D., Halperin, J. Finding atrial fibrillation after cryptogenic stroke. Nat Rev Neurol 8, 666–667 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2012.228
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2012.228
