Patient with non-cardioembolic ischemic stroke or high-risk transient ischemic attack. Part 1. Diagnosis

Abstract

Non-cardioembolic stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) are heterogeneous conditions, some variants of which are associated with a high short-term and long-term risk of cardiovascular events. The article presents clinical portraits of patients in high and very high risk groups: 1) patients with extracranial atherosclerosis and severe stenosis/subocclusion/occlusion or CT signs of atherosclerotic plaque instability; 2) all patients with intracranial atherosclerosis, especially those with symptoms of hemodynamic compromise or multiple infarcts; 3) all patients with mobile/ulcerative atheroma of the aortic arch. For the timely identification of these subtypes, it is necessary to use clinical and radiological clues with necessary diagnostic search. In addition, the following patients with TIA may be at high or very high risk: those with an ABCD2 score of ≥4 points or an ABCD3-I score of ≥8 points; with TIA in the vertebrobasilar basin, "crescendo" or "limb shaking" type, orthostatic TIA, as well as patients with warning capsular and bridge syndromes. Assigning a patient to one of the considered categories requires the immediate administration of enhanced secondary prevention, which will be discussed in the second part of this article.