Table 1.

A summary of potential stroke aetiologies and how to test for them

Stroke aetiology	Testing approach
Large artery disease	CT or MR angiography
Small vessel disease	Brain MRI—evaluate the topography of the infarct
Structural cardiac abnormality	Transthoracic and/or transesophageal echocardiogram, bubble test
Cardiac arrhythmia	Prolonged ECG monitoring: at least 14–28 days
Plaque of the ascending aorta	Transesophageal echocardiogram
Hypercoagulable state	Hypercoagulable blood testing
Lower extremity deep vein thrombosis	Lower extremity ultrasound or MR veinogram