Hemorrhagic infarction on CT in cardioembolic stroke.

CT-scans of 103 patients anticoagulated following cardioembolic stroke were evaluated. Data were taken from a prospective registry on the risk of early anticoagulant treatment in patients with cardioembolic stroke. Ninety-three patients had CT within 24 hours after stroke onset. Sixty-six of 103 CT-scans showed infarction. On initial CT five hemorrhagic infarcts were found (5%). Of 35 follow-up CT-scans randomly performed during anticoagulant treatment, six (= 17%) showed hemorrhagic infarction without clinical worsening. It is argued that a cardioembolic cause of stroke cannot be infered by the presence of HI on CT. In patients with a cardioembolic stroke the value of CT lies in minimizing the risk of early anticoagulant treatment.