So if your stroke was Cryptogenic(unknown origin) you might want to consult your doctor again.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Cardiology/Strokes/32190
Are Cryptogenic Strokes Really Cryptogenic?
More than one-third of patients who had a stroke of unknown origin
were found to have complex carotid plaques in nonstenosed arteries,
according to a small study.
MR imaging showed the prevalence of complicated type VI plaques,
according to American Heart Association classification, in 12 of 32
carotid arteries ipsilateral to the stroke, compared with no such
findings in the contralateral arteries, reported Tobias M. Freilinger,
MD, from Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, and colleagues.
In three-quarters of the plaques, intraplaque hemorrhage was the most
common diagnostic feature, followed by fibrous plaque rupture in 50%,
and surface thrombus in 33%, according to results published in this
month's JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.
"The realization that even apparently 'minor' atherosclerosis may
harbor high-risk disease should change our perception of what
constitutes risk for a patient," wrote Alan Moody, MD, from Sunnybrook
Health Sciences Center in Ontario, Canada, in an accompanying editorial.
Also reported in the journal, Alistair C. Lindsay, MBChB, from the
University of Oxford in the U.K., and colleagues found that slightly
more than half of 41 patients who suffered a transient ischemic attack
had type VI plaques compared with eight asymptomatic controls.
Lindsay's group identified the three most common features as
intraplaque hemorrhage, cap rupture, and surface thrombus. These
features were in carotid arteries that were not considered significantly
stenotic.
They also found that only two plaques showed signs of healing at
6-weeks' follow-up. Moody said that "this represents an ongoing source
for thromboemboli and a potential therapeutic target for secondary
prevention."
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