BACKGROUND: While patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and cerebrovascular disease share similar risk factor profiles, data on whether IS can be considered a "CAD equivalent" are limited. We aimed to determine whether ischemic stroke is an independent predictor of CAD by using cardiac computed tomography angiography (CTA). METHODS: We analyzed the CTA in 392 patients with no history of CAD (24 patients with acute IS and 368 patients with acute chest pain). Extent of plaque burden was additionally dichotomized into 0-4 versus >4 segments. RESULTS: Patients with IS had a near 5-fold increase odds of having coronary artery plaque (odds ratio [OR] 4.9, P4 segments of plaque than 0-4 segments as compared to patients without stroke (OR 18.3, P