Strokes, transient ischemic attacks and asymptomatic bruits.

Research into noninvasive techniques for evaluating cerebrovascular insufficiency has shown that hemodynamically significant lesions can be identified with considerable accuracy. Concurrently, recent descriptions of carefully applied medical and surgical therapy indicate that thromboembolic stroke can be effectively prevented when patients are allocated to the proper therapeutic protocols. The approach of these two lines of basic investigation to the clinical focal point of stroke control make it imperative that clinicians review the tools at hand for identifying persons at high risk, as well as the available therapeutic alternatives for effective stroke prevention.