Prevalence and Prediction of Subclinical Atrial Tachyarrhythmias Detected by Continuous Holter Monitoring in Cryptogenic Stroke.

Background: Cryptogenic stroke (CS) is a symptomatic cerebral infarct with no identifiable cause after adequate diagnostic workup. Subclinical atrial arrhythmias are increasingly recognized as a source of CS. The study aimed to investigate the association between cryptogenic stroke and atrial tachyarrhythmias using 24-hour Holter monitoring. Methods: This was a case-control study that was conducted on a total of 30 adult patients with CS who were admitted at Mansoura University Hospital during the period From December 2019 to December 2021 as a case study group matched with another 40 normal persons as a control study group using 24-hour Holter monitoring. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the studied groups as regards age, sex, and history of the previous stroke. There was a statistically significant higher mean systolic blood pressure (BP) among cases than in the control group (p=0.02). There was no statistically significant difference between the studied groups as regards Holter findings. Among cases, one case showed frequent premature atrial ectopics (PACs), one supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) run, frequent premature ventricular ectopics (PVCs), 2 cases showed runs of non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) and 3 cases (10% of cases) showed low burden atrial fibrillation (AF) runs. Conclusions: 24-hour Holter monitoring could detect subclinical AF or other tachyarrhythmias in CS and could guide subsequent treatment as regards anticoagulants use. However, it could not be enough, and a longer duration of follow-up is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]