Atrial fibrillation is a common heart rhythm problem

The risk of a stroke will be even higher when other risk factors such as hypertension, increasing age, diabetes mellitus, previous stroke or heart failure co-exist. Photo: AFP

When taking care of a patient, more often than not, doctors have to cross over into the field of ano-ther sub-specialty simply because our bodies are not distinct compartments.

This means that problems occurring in one part of the body – for example, the heart – can very easily affect another distant part – in this case, the brain.