How Should We Look for Atrial Fibrillation After Stroke?

Ten-day Holter monitoring, repeated three times in 6 months, significantly increased detection.

Recent studies have found that in patients with stroke of unknown cause (cryptogenic stroke), extended poststroke monitoring detects intermittent atrial fibrillation (AF) in 5% to 20%. In this manufacturer-funded study, investigators from Germany randomized 400 patients (aged >60) to 10-day Holter monitor recordings at three time points following ischemic stroke (baseline, 3 months, and 6 months) or to standard monitoring (≥24-hour Holter or telemetry monitoring). Patients with severe, ipsilateral carotid or intracranial stenosis or prior AF diagnosis were excluded. The primary endpoint was detection of AF or atrial flutter lasting 30 seconds or longer.

At 6 months, 14% of patients in the extended-monitoring group had AF detected, significan…

Reviewing Author

Seemant Chaturvedi, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardBayer Pharmaceuticals; Novartis

Grant/Research SupportNational Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Editorial BoardsNeurology; Stroke

Seemant Chaturvedi, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardBayer Pharmaceuticals; Novartis

Grant/Research SupportNational Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Editorial BoardsNeurology; Stroke

How Should We Look for Atrial Fibrillation After Stroke?

Topics

Reviewing Author