**5.1. Patients**

The study included 55 patients, 23 men, with an average age of 64 years ± 13 years, and 32 women, average age 74 years ± 13 years, who survived an ischemic cerebrovascular event, that is, a large-artery atherosclerosis subtype of stroke. To determine the subtype of ischemic stroke, the original TOAST (Trial of ORG 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment) [1] criteria were used. The diagnosis of subtype was based on the risk factor profiles, clinical features, and results of diagnostic tests, including CT scan/MRI, vascular imaging (carotid duplex, transcranial Doppler), EEG – electroencephalography, echocardiography (transesophageal/ transthoracic), assessment of prothrombotic syndromes [1,30], activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), and international normalized ratio (INR).
