Young stroke patients have an increased risk of being diagnosed with a new cancer in the years following their stroke, a new study shows, raising the possibility that the stroke might be the first manifestation of an underlying cancer.
The data were presented by Jamie Verhoeven, MD, Radboud University Medical Centre, Netherlands, at the recent European Stroke Organisation Conference 2022.
Verhoeven noted that 10% of all stroke cases occur in individuals younger than 50 years. During the past few decades, the incidence of stroke in the young has steadily increased, whereas the incidence of stroke in older adults has stabilized or decreased.
"Stroke in the young differs from stroke in older patients, and one of the major differences is that stroke in the young has a higher proportion of cryptogenic stroke, with no clear cause found in over one-third of patients," she said.
Also, having an active cancer is known to be a risk factor for thrombosis. This association is strongest in venous thrombosis and has been less well investigated in arterial thrombosis, Verhoeven reported.
Her group aimed to investigate whether in some patients with cryptogenic stroke, this may be the first manifestation of an underlying cancer. "If this hypothesis is true, then it would be more obvious in young patients who have a higher incidence of cryptogenic stroke," she said.
