Arterial
Arterial embolism can cause occlusion in any part of the body. It is a major cause of infarction (tissue death from blockage of the blood supply).An embolus lodging in the brain from either the heart or a carotid artery will most likely be the cause of a stroke due to ischemia.An arterial embolus might originate in the heart (from a thrombus in the left atrium, following atrial fibrillation or be a septic embolus resulting from endocarditis). Emboli of cardiac origin are frequently encountered in clinical practice. Thrombus formation within the atrium occurs mainly in patients with mitral valve disease, and especially in those with mitral valve stenosis (narrowing), with atrial fibrillation (AF). In the absence of AF, pure mitral regurgitation has a low incidence of thromboembolism.The risk of emboli forming in AF depends on other risk factors such as age, hypertension, diabetes, recent heart failure, or previous stroke. Thrombus formation can also take place within the ventricles, and it occurs in approximately 30% of anterior-wall myocardial infarctions, compared with only 5% of inferior ones. Some other risk factors are poor ejection fraction (<35%), size of infarct, and the presence of AF. In the first three months after infarction, left-ventricle aneurysms have a 10% risk of emboli forming.Patients with prosthetic valves also carry a significant increase in risk of thromboembolism. Risk varies, based on the valve type (bioprosthetic or mechanical); the position (mitral or aortic); and the presence of other factors such as AF, left-ventricular dysfunction, and previous emboli.
In retrograde embolism, the emboli move in opposition to the blood flow direction; this is usually significant only in blood vessels with low pressure (veins) or with emboli of high weight. Etymology
The word embolism comes from the Greek ἐμβολισμός, meaning "interpressure". See also
Embolectomy

References
External links

MR of Fat Embolism Brain Injury from Fat Embolism