Markl M, et al. – This study was undertaken to investigate the hypothesis that variants in cerebrovascular anatomy will influence the number of patients demonstrating a plausible retrograde embolization mechanism from plaques in the descending aorta (DAo). The results of this study displayed that 4D flow MRI indicated 26% concordance with infarct location on imaging with retrograde diastolic flow into the feeding vessels of the affected cerebral area, distinguishing a potential etiology for cryptogenic stroke. The data further illustrate the importance of cerebrovascular anatomy when determining concordance of retrograde flow pathways with vascular stroke territory from DAo plaques.