The catchment area had 328,542 inhabitants in 2007. The Danish National Health Service provides tax-supported health care for all inhabitants, guaranteeing free access to general practitioners and hospitals. All acute medical conditions including TIA are exclusively treated at public hospitals, either as in or as outpatients. We established an acute TIA-team, which served TIA-patients LDK378 both on the stroke unit and the TIA-clinic. Patients with TIA symptoms during the preceding 48 h or crescendo TIA

were admitted directly to the stroke unit and monitored for 1–2 days. All other patients were seen as outpatients 1–3 days after received referral. TIA was defined as a sudden focal neurologic deficit of presumed vascular origin lasting less than 24 h. Inclusion criteria were: TIA according to definition, residence in the Aarhus area, TIA during the last six months, and date of referral 1 March 2007–28 February 2008. Patients with a modified Rankin Score (mRS) >2 were excluded. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. All patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria for TIA were registered prospectively, including those admitted for suspected stroke but ending up as TIA. The TIA diagnosis

was made by a specialist. Patients underwent a neurological examination (more than 95% of the TIA patients were examined by the first author), CT or MR of the brain, ECG, laboratory tests and ankle brachial index. Furthermore, we performed Sotrastaurin in vitro duplex sonography of the extra- and intracranial vessels (TCCS). All ultrasound examinations were done by one experienced neurologist, performing at least 500 examinations per year and certified by the European Society of Neurosonoly and Cerebral Haemodynamics (ESNCH). Atherosclerosis of the carotid arteries was considered significant if a stenoses ≥50% was found (NASCET criteria). Intracranial stenoses were defined according else to the criteria established by Baumgartner: stenoses in the anterior (ACA), middle (MCA)

and posterior (PCA) cerebral artery was defined by peak systolic velocity of ≥120 cm/s, ≥155 cm/s, and ≥100 cm/s respectively, Stenoses in the VA and BA was defined by peak systolic velocity of ≥90 cm/s, and ≥100 cm/s respectively [7]. Additionally to these criteria, stenoses in ICA, and the extracranial VA was defined by systolic peak velocity ≥120 cm/s. All intracranial velocities were measured with an insonation angle of 0° without angle correction. A stenosis was considered symptomatic if a patient had TIA symptoms during the last six months before inclusion, related to the supply area of a carotid artery with a significant stenosis, or an extracranial vertebral or an intracranial stenosis according to the criteria above. Patients with combined extra- and intracranial stenoses e.g. ICA and MCA-stenoses on the symptomatic side were counted both as symptomatic ICA- and MCA-stenoses.