Background Coagulation factor Ⅶ (F Ⅶ) levels in plasma are usually related to ischemic heart disease (IHD) and cerebral infarction shares many of the risk factors related to IHD. Is there any relationship between factor Ⅶ and cerebral infarction? We investigated the relationship between F Ⅶ and acute cerebral infarction and reported genotype frequencies and allelic frequencies of FⅦ gene polymorphisms in the Chinese Han population.Methods We recruited 62 patients with acute cerebral infarction confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from Ruijin Hospital, and 149 age-matched patients clinically free of vascular disease to act as controls. All of them were unrelated, and were from the Chinese Han population. FⅦ coagulant activity (FⅦc) was determined using an clotting assay, activated FⅦ (FⅦa) and FⅦ Ag were assayed using enzyme immunoassay kits. The FⅦ gene polymorphisms to be detected included-401G/T, -402G/A, 5F7A1/A2, IVS7 and R353Q. 5F7 and IVS7 were revealed by means of a PCR and direct agarose gel electrophoresis. The rest were examined by a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Results The results showed that FⅦc, FⅦAg and FⅦa were higher in the acute cerebral infarction group than in the control group (P