Selective Use of Two-Dimensional Echocardiography in Stroke Syndromes

Excerpt

A comparison of the chapter on cerebrovascular diseases in the first edition of Principles of Internal Medicine with chapters in subsequent editions shows the increasingly sophisticated devices used to study patients with cerebrovascular diseases. The authors of the 1950 edition stated that the laboratory studies of "greatest value are examination of the urine, the determination of nonprotein nitrogen and sugar content of the blood, examination of cerebrospinal fluid and x-rays of the skull" (1). The most recent edition contains descriptions of a variety of diagnostic aids including cerebral arteriography, radionuclide brain scanning, computerized tomography, electroencephalography, and examination of the cerebrospinal