Frequency of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy, Mitral Annular Calsification and Aortic Calcification in Ischemic Stroke Subgroups.

Objective: We sought to determine whether each of mitral annular calcification (MAC), left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and aortic calcification (AC) contribute to the increased risk of acute ischemic stroke in patients with cryptogenic stroke. Material and Methods: Three hundred and thirty patients with acute ischemic stroke were evaluated with transthoracic echocardiography for MAC, LVH and AC. and these echocardiography findings were analyzed for any correlation with stroke etiology. Results: Three hundred and thirty patients with acute ischemic stroke were classified according to the etiology as cardioembolic (n=83), atherothrombotic (n=48), lacunar (n=49), cryptogenic (n=125), multiple etiological groups (n=25). Twenty (24.1%) patients with cardioembolic, 7 (14.6%) patients with atherotrombotic, 8 (16.3%) patients with lacunar, 20 (16%) patients with cryptogenic, 5 (8.3%) patients with multiple etiological factor had MAC (p>0.05). Sixty-four (77.1%) patients with cardioembolic, 41 (85.4%) patients with atherotrombotic, 41 (83.7%) patients with lacunar, 95 (76%) of patients with cryptogenic, 2 (8%) patients with multiple etiological factors had LVH (p>0.05). Forty-two (50.6%) patients with cardioembolic, 29 (60.4%) of patients with atherothrombotic, 31 (63.3%) of patients with lacunar, 76 (60.8%) patients with cryptogenic, 15 (10.6%) patients with multiple etiological factor had AC (p>0.05). Conclusion: This study shows that there is no association between the presence of mitral annular calcification, left ventricular hypertrophy and aortic calcification with cryptogenic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]