Stroke remains a leading cause of death and disability globally. While 10-15% of strokes are haemorrhagic in nature, ischaemic stroke, due to thrombosis, embolism or systemic hypoperfusion, accounts for over 80% of cases. Acute ischaemic strokes are time sensitive due to the reperfusion treatments like thrombolysis and thrombectomy. Accurately identifying stroke mechanism is important as it allows for evidence based recommendations for therapy and developing future preventative strategies. The TOAST classification is commonly used in stroke research and subdivides ischaemic stroke into 5 categories – a) large artery atherosclerosis, b) cardioembolism, c) small vessel occlusion, d) stroke of other determined aetiology and, e) stroke of undetermined aetiology (cryptogenic). Approximately 20% of ischaemic strokes are cardioembolic.
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