title: [Atrial fibrillation and cerebral infarct].
abstract: The importance of atrial fibrillation (AF) as a risk factor (RF) for cerebral infarction (CI) is well-known. It is probably caused by cardiac embolism but other explanations can also justify this association. Our aim was to analyse the features of the patients with CI and AF and sinus rhythm (SR), as well as to form hypotheses as regards the pathogenesis. 250 patients with CI, 204 in RS and 46 in AF (31 non-valvular and 15 associated to a valvular disease) were studied, analysing the prevalence of RF and initial blood tests. The group of patients with valvular AF of probably embolic mechanism had a minor prevalence of RF (hypertension, diabetes, smoking, alcoholism) but higher mortality. The group with non-valvular AF, had a lower RF prevalence compared to the SR group (non-embolic mechanism), without statistical significance and with a similar mortality rate. We concluded that the atherothrombotic mechanism can be the cause of a considerable proportion of CI in patients with non-valvular AF.
authors.affiliation: Sección de Medicina de Urgencias, Hospital General Gregorio Marañón, Madrid.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muiño Míguez
authors.forename: V J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: González Ramallo
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rodríguez de Castro
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sanz Sanz
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lázaro Bermejo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pereda Ugarte
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications*; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids
vernacular_title: Fibrilación auricular e infarto cerebral.