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Hidden Heart Dysfunction Triples Stroke Risk in Cardiac Patients

New study reveals hidden heart dysfunction triples stroke risk in cardiac amyloidosis patients. Noninvasive tool may identify high-risk individuals for preventive treatment.

This research matters because it addresses a critical gap in cardiovascular care for patients with transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy, a condition that affects thousands of people worldwide and has historically been underrecognized. The discovery that mechanical dysfunction in the heart's upper chambers can triple stroke risk even when heart rhythm appears normal represents a paradigm shift in how we assess cardiovascular risk. For patients living with this progressive condition, this finding could lead to earlier identification of those at highest stroke risk and potentially life-saving preventive treatments. Given that strokes are a leading cause of long-term disability and mortality worldwide, any advancement in predicting and preventing them has profound implications for patient outcomes, healthcare costs, and quality of life. The development of a noninvasive assessment tool means this approach could be widely implemented in clinical practice, potentially transforming how we manage stroke risk in cardiac patients beyond just monitoring heart rhythm abnormalities.