Unusual Causes of Stroke

This chapter briefly describes some of the less common causes of stroke and some of the less common groups of patients who have stroke. It is not an exhaustive list and does not describe in much detail each of the individual conditions. References to review articles are included where further information is needed. It is important to be aware of these conditions as although it is unlikely that you will see all of them in your clinical practice, about 30% of strokes are labelled as ‘cryptogenic’. In other words, where clinicians have failed to identify the cause. Some of these will have important causes that if not identified will increase the risk of recurrence and may result in other important pathology not being identified and treated.