Abstract
We thank Yildiz et al. [1] for their comments and agree that some pointsmay deserve clarification.Due to the limited space available the stated prevalences were perhaps not defined clearly enough. ST-T changes were noted at least once in 59 patients (24%) during the first five days of admission [2]. Four patterns of change were observed: Presence on all six days (n=16), disappearance after a couple of days (n=10), postponed development of changes (n=25), and ST-Tchanges varying from day to day (n=8). However, the prevalence observed on each of the six study days ranged between only 13% and 16%. These numbers, and not the cumulated 24%, should be compared with the figures in the literature, since almost all previous reports were based on singe-day observations. And, as stated, the 13% to 16% do not differ fromwhat is to expect when screening an apparently healthy population [3]. This finding suggests that stroke is hardly the cause.Moreover, the dynamics of ECG changes mentioned to by Yildiz and colleagues probably relate more to the QT interval than the STT segment, and the paper they refer to [4] differs from ours in dealing with a mixture of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, and, hence, its results are not comparable to ours. As commented on in our discussion, the pathophysiological mechanism of the ST-T changes may indeed represent myocardial ischemia. However, if the observed ST-T changes are myocardial ischemia we still need to know the following,
Published Version
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