Elevated systemic inflammation predicts vascular recurrence after atrial fibrillation-related stroke, supporting anti-inflammatory therapy trials targeting high-inflammatory patients.
Elevated inflammatory markers may predict vascular recurrence after AF-related stroke, providing a rationale for investigating anti-inflammatory therapies in this population.
These data highlight the importance of inflammatory mechanisms in vascular recurrence irrespective of AF, provide rationale for the inclusion of patients with AF in trials of anti-inflammatory therapy, and support a selection approach in future trials based on elevated inflammatory marker levels, rather than stroke etiology alone.
McCabe et al. (2026) studied this question. Elevated systemic inflammation predicts vascular recurrence after atrial fibrillation-related stroke, supporting anti-inflammatory therapy trials targeting high-inflammatory patients.