Identify a common cause of embolic stroke symptoms.

Embolic stroke symptoms often occur when a blood clot or debris travels through the bloodstream and lodges in a blood vessel in the brain, blocking blood flow. The left atrial thrombus is a well-documented cause of embolic strokes, particularly in patients with atrial fibrillation. In atrial fibrillation, the irregular heart rhythm can lead to pooling of blood in the left atrium, creating conditions for clot formation. When a thrombus forms in this location, it can break off and travel to the brain, causing an embolic stroke and resulting in the related symptoms, which can vary depending on the area of the brain affected.

This mechanism highlights the importance of recognizing conditions that can lead to the formation of blood clots in the heart, as they are critical to preventing embolic strokes. Other conditions that may lead to strokes, such as carotid artery wall dissection or severe carotid stenosis, typically involve different mechanisms of stroke, primarily ischemic in nature due to narrowing or destabilization of blood vessels rather than dislodged clots traveling from the heart. Vertebral artery occlusion is a specific form of ischemic stroke but does not primarily involve emboli originating from the heart.