Covert Brain Infarction

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is commonly used in healthcare, and sometimes it shows small areas of brain damage called Covert Brain Infarcts (CBIs). These are usually found by chance when people have scans for things like headaches or dizziness. Although CBIs don't cause symptoms at the time, they are linked to a higher risk of future stroke and death. There is currently no standard treatment for CBIs, and doctors have different approaches-some give stroke-preventing medication (like antiplatelets or statins), while others don't treat at all. This is mostly because there isn't enough research yet. This study will test whether stroke-preventing treatments help people with CBIs. It will also look at whether having a CBI increases the risk of dementia, and whether treatment might lower that risk.

The CBI registry is a prospective, interdisciplinary, multimodal observational registry of patients with covert brain infarction. Methods: A standardized workup in analogy to manifest ischemic stroke including cerebral MRI, long-term rhythm monitoring (3 x 7 days ECG), echocardiography, laboratory work-up and risk factor assessment as well as noninvasive angiography of the cervical and intracranial arteries will be performed.