Cardiogenic cerebral infarction in the parietal lobe predicts the development of post-stroke epilepsy

•First seizure is observed after about 1.9 years from the onset of infarction.•Most common seizure of post-stroke epilepsy: focal to bilateral tonic–clonic seizure.•Old infarction in the parietal lobe: a significant independent predictor of epilepsy. Post-stroke epilepsy (PSE) is a major late complication of cardioembolic cerebral infarction. However, few studies have examined the epileptogenicity and characteristics of first-occurrence cardioembolic cerebral infarctions. This retrospective study included 93 consecutive patients with old cardioembolic cerebral infarctions who were classified into two groups based on their epileptic history: patients presenting with PSE or stroke without seizure (SWS). Each patient was diagnosed with an epileptic seizure subtype and treated with appropriate anti-epileptic therapy after admission. We evaluated clinical characteristics, laboratory results, and intracranial infarct areas. The sizes of these areas were measured using MRI diffusion-weighted image (DWI) of each patient after their first stroke. The volume was calculated by multiplying the total slice area with the slice thickness. PSE was diagnosed in 43 (46.2 %) of 93 patients. The mean (± SD) time from infarction onset to the first seizure in the PSE group was 22.5 ± 31.6 months. The PSE group exhibited significantly more atrial fibrillation (p = 0.022) and higher glucose levels (p