Autopsy Prevalence of Coronary Atherosclerosis in Patients With Fatal Stroke

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Abstract
Background and Purpose— Myocardial infarction (MI) is the leading cause of long-term mortality in patients with stroke, yet the prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis in these individuals is unknown. The objective of the study was to establish the prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis and MI after fatal stroke. Methods— Using an autopsy data bank, we studied the prevalence of coronary plaques and coronary stenoses >50% and pathologic evidence of MI in 803 consecutive autopsies of neurologic patients. Results— Coronary plaques, coronary stenoses, and MI were present in 72.4%, 37.5%, and 40.8%, respectively, of the 341 patients with stroke and in 26.8%, 10.1%, and 12.8%, respectively, of the 462 patients with other neurologic diseases ( P P Conclusions— Coronary atherosclerosis and MI are highly prevalent in patients who died from a stroke regardless of the etiology. They are more frequent when atherosclerosis is present in the carotid and cerebral arteries. They are also common in stroke patients with no evidence of carotid or cerebral atherosclerosis.