Oliveira-Filho J, et al. - This study investigated the incidence and potential causes of cerebral microinfarcts (CMI) in a large ischemic stroke (IS) cohort. The enrollment consisted of consecutive patients with MRI-confirmed IS within 72 hours of onset. Findings illustrated that CMIs occurring within the vascular territory of a larger infarct had a better chance of being embolic. However, those occurring outside are most likely associated with small vessel disease (SVD). Therefore, the involvement of SVD was disclosed in the pathogenesis of CMIs. Yielded data stressed on the significance of etiologic workup for determining alternate etiologies.