Pulmonary-artery cineangiocardiography and echocardiography for detection of cardiac sources of cerebral embolism.

Sixty-two patients with ischemic stroke possibly due to embolism of cardiac origin were investigated by pulmonary artery-cineangiography (PACAC) and echocardiography (UCG) to detect intracardiac thrombi. The proportion of intracardiac thrombi found by PACAC was 31% and by UCG 15%. The presence or absence of atrial fibrillation correlated well with PACAC findings of an intraventricular clot but poorly with UCG. Similarly, there was a significant association between ischemic heart disease and intraventricular thrombi detected by PACAC investigations but not with the results obtained by UCG. PACAC seems superior to UCG in the detection of intracardiac thrombi after possible embolic stroke.