TITLE:
Effect of Atrial Fibrillation on Acute Ischemic Stroke Severity
AUTHORS:
Taha Kamel Alloush, Mahmoud Haroun Ibrahim, Nahed Salah El Dein Ahmed Ibrahim, Ghada Samir El-Shahed, Lobna Mohamed Nabil El-Sayed, Mohamed Hamdy Ibrahim, Hosam Ahmed Azmy
KEYWORDS:
Atrial Fibrillation (AF)
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Medical Imaging,
Vol.4 No.2,
June
25,
2014
ABSTRACT: Objectives: To assess the impact of atrial fibrillation on stroke severity and short-term (1 month) mortality. Materials and Methods: Totally 200 patients admitted to Ain Shams University Specialized Hospital were recruited and diagnosed clinically to have acute ischemic stroke within 3 days. Patients with hemorrhagic infarctions were excluded. History taking about previous heart disease was taken, full general and neurological examinations were done. Full metabolic profile, full cardiac investigations, carotid duplex, MRI brain stroke protocol with initial clinical evaluation and after 1 month re-evaluation using (NIHSS ) scale. Results: All patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography which revealed absence of “A” wave corresponding to atrial fibrillation in 33 patients (16.5%). Those Patients with atrial fibrillation had a median NIHSS score of 11.00 with IQR of 6.00 - 18.50 at admission and 6.00 with IQR of 2.00 - 14.50 after one month. Patients with atrial fibrillation showed significantly higher NIHSS at admission than patients in sinus rhythm, P