Structured continuous ECG monitoring in acute stroke patients is crucial for detecting clinically relevant arrhythmias, particularly paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, to guide appropriate secondary prevention.
Supports arrhythmia screening in acute stroke; leaves open effects on recurrent events and optimal protocols.
One in 4 patients with acute stroke suffers from clinically relevant cardiac arrhythmia that may complicate the clinical course by hemodynamic instability, limit the success of rehabilitative care and increase the risk of stroke recurrence. A structured analysis of the continuous ECG recordings at the stroke unit can double the detection rate of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation compared to conventional monitoring. In case of suspected cardiac arrhythmia, ambulatory long-term heart rhythm monitoring is available for patients with stroke of unknown cause. Apart from the emergency management of arrhythmia, different aspects of the antithrombotic treatment for secondary prevention are of major therapeutic relevance and represent clinical challenges for the neurologist.
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Kallmünzer et al. (2017) studied this question.
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