Empirical anticoagulation for patients in sinus rhythm at high risk of ischaemic stroke: A review of current literature

Table 1 Randomised control trials which show an increased yield of atrial fibrillation detection with extended cardiac monitoring

Ref.	Design	No. of patients	Inclusion/exclusion criteria	Type of monitoring	Outcome	Comments
Higgins et al[14] (2013)	RCT	100	Inclusion: Ischaemic stroke within 7 d; Exclusion: History of AF	7-d event recorder vs 24-h ECG (control)	Detection of AF: Sustained (> 20 s) and non-sustained (minimum 6 beats)	Sustained AF detected in 18% (control 2%); Non-sustained AF in 44% (control 4%)
Gladstone et al[15] (2014)	RCT	572	Inclusion: Cryptogenic stroke, Age ≥ 55 yr; Exclusion: History of AF	30-d triggered event recorder vs 24-h ECG (control)	Detection of AF (> 30 s)	AF detected in 16.1% (control 3.2%)
Sanna et al[16] (2014)	RCT	441	Inclusion: Cryptogenic stroke, Age ≥ 40 yr; Exclusion: History of AF (including 24-h ECG)	Insertable cardiac monitor vs Standard care (control)	Detection of AF (> 30 s)	At 6 mo, AF detected in 8.9% (control 1.4%) At 12 mo, AF detected in 12.4% (control 2.0%) At 36 mo, AF detected in 30% (control 3.0%)
Brachmann et al[17] (2016)

AF: Atrial fibrillation; RCT: Randomized controlled trial.