Neurocognitive, Quality of Life, and Behavioral Outcomes for Patients With Covert Stroke After Cardiac Surgery: Exploratory Analysis of Data From a Prospectively Randomized Trial

Asymptomatic brain ischemic injury detected with diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) is reported in more than one-half of patients after cardiac surgery. There are conflicting findings on whether DWI-detected covert stroke is associated with neurocognitive dysfunction after surgery, and it is unclear whether such ischemic injury affects quality of life or behavioral outcomes. The purpose of this study was to perform exploratory...