Delayed stroke following carotid occlusion.

A 60-year-old patient suffered a lethal hemispheric infarction 3 days after angiographically documented occlusion of the ipsilateral cervical internal carotid artery and while receiving anticoagulant therapy. Pathologic evidence is consistent with embolism from the distal "tail" of a propagated carotid thrombus as the mechanism of his stroke.