Radiographic and Clinical Brain Infarcts in Cardiac and Diagnostic Procedures

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The incidence of periprocedural brain infarcts varies among cardiovascular procedures. In a systematic review, we compared the ratio of radiographic brain infarcts (RBI) to strokes and transient ischemic attacks across cardiac and vascular procedures. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE and 5 other databases for brain infarcts in aortic valve replacement, coronary artery bypass grafting, cardiac catheterization, and cerebral angiogram through September 2015. We followed the PRISMA (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses) recommendations. We defined symptomatic rate ratio (RR) as ratio of stroke plus transient ischemic attack rate to RBI rate. CONCLUSIONS: One of 10 people with periprocedural RBIs during cardiac surgeries and invasive vascular diagnostic procedures resulted in strokes or transient ischemic attacks, which may serve as a potential surrogate marker of procedural proficiency and perhaps as a predictor of risk for periprocedural strokes.