Silent Cerebral Infarct

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.

Arterial Fibrillation (AF) is well-recognized as a cause for cryptogenic Acute Ischemic Stroke (AIS) and is associated with Silent Brain Infarction (SBI). However, the role of AF in the formation of lesions (SBIs) is less well established than its role in AIS and needs clarification. The investigators hypothesize that continuous rhythm monitoring will yield a similar incidence of AF diagnosis in patients with SBI as compared to patients with cryptogenic AIS. The primary objective is to assess the cumulative incidence of AF diagnosis at 24 months in patients with SBI.