ABSTRACT
Nearly always, the clinical presentation in patients with brain embolism relates to the
recipient artery. Blockage of a recipient artery causes brain symptoms that can be persist-
ent or transient. Factors that affect the outcome of the ischemic brain include: the size and
nature of the embolic material; any proximal circulatory insufficiency (washout) (1); frag-
mentation and passage of the embolic material distally; resistance or susceptibility to
ischemia of the brain tissue deprived of blood flow; collateral circulation; and perhaps
other factors not well understood now.
