Anticoagulation for stroke prevention after embolic stroke of undetermined source of presumably cardiac source: The sail to Ithaca

Abstract

During the last decade, the term embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS) was introduced in a pursue to standardized diagnostic workup in a more targeted sub-population of cryptogenic stroke patients [1]. ESUS is comprised of several vascular and cardiac sources of emboli including atrial cardiopathy, valvular disease, patent foramen ovale (PFO) and left ventricular disease which represent the majority of the potential causes of ESUS [2,3-6].