Cryptogenic stroke (CS) accounts for up to one-third of cases of stroke or TIA.1 CS is defined as brain infarction not attributable to a source of definite cardioembolism, large artery atherosclerosis, or small artery disease despite extensive vascular, cardiac, and serologic evaluation.2 Patients with CS are heterogeneous by definition and the pathogenic mechanism of CS remains contested. Some authors have stressed the potential role of occult embolism as the prominent etiology for CS and have identified a subset of cases of CS as embolic strokes of undetermined source, defined as a nonlacunar brain infarct without proximal arterial stenosis or cardioembolic sources.3 This point of view is not shared by others, who believe there is insufficient evidence to support the hypothesis that CS is often caused by occult embolism.4
Footnotes
Practice current: An interactive exchange on controversial topics Luca Bartolini, MD, Section Editor
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