Transient Ischemic Attacks

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
To the Editor: Pessin et al. (N Engl J Med 296:358–362, 1977) incorrectly conclude that embolism is not the cause of transient monocular blindness because some of their patients did not have carotid stenosis, and other patients with carotid stenosis did not have simultaneous cerebral embolism. Although it is difficult to differentiate embolism from thrombosis unless post-mortem examination reveals clot in a normal artery, the authors did not employ additional clinical and angiographic criteria that favor the diagnosis of embolism: infarctions in multiple organs; multiple infarctions in one organ; occlusions in arteries in which thrombosis is rare; blockages in . . .