Patterns and Predictors of Early Risk of Recurrence After Transient Ischemic Attack With Respect to Etiologic Subtypes

The risk of recurrent stroke is highest within the first few weeks after a transient ischemic attack (TIA), and it is likely to be related to the underlying pathology. We sought to study the early risk of recurrent stroke by etiologic subtype. We prospectively studied 388 TIA patients. The cause of TIA was classified according to the Trial of ORG 10172 criteria: large-artery atherosclerosis (LAA, n=90), cardioembolism (n=87), small-vessel disease (n=68), undetermined (n=127), and other determined cause (n=16). Patients were followed up at 3 months. Risk factors and clinical symptoms for each subtype were recorded. The duration of symptoms and clinical symptoms varied significantly among the different subtypes. LAA was associated with recurrent short episodes of weakness, whereas speech impairment and cortical symptoms were associated with cardioembolism (P