The cardiovascular status of the black stroke patient.

The cardiac status of 102 consecutive black stroke patients entered to the Medunsa Stroke Databank was determined. Cardiological examination, echocardiography and a gated blood pool scan revealed structural and/or functional cardiac abnormalities in 73.6% of patients. Rheumatic heart disease was diagnosed in 15.6%, mitral valve prolapse in 5.8% and mitral annulus calcification in 4.9% of cases. 'Possible' cardiac sources of cerebral embolism were detected in 22.5% and 'definite' sources in 23.5% of patients. Hypertensive heart disease was diagnosed in 35.2% and cardiomyopathy in 13.7% of the study population. Ischaemic heart disease was present in 6.86%. Ultrasonography revealed ventricular bands in 29.4% of patients. The high incidence of structural cardiac abnormalities detected by non-invasive means is in keeping with recent studies in white stroke patients.