Role of MR Imaging in Assessment of Cerebro-Vascular Stroke

Abstract

Stroke is an injury to the central nervous system that ts characteristically abrupt in onset & due to vascular insult. New ultrafast MRI methods have opened up the possibility of non invasively detecting & studying the time course of human ischemic pathophysiology. These include DWI which is sensitive to decrease in water self diffusion within minutes of ischemia insult & is a marker for cellular energy failure. Conventional IV!R sequences can provide an important information about the age of infraction. As recent infraction is not yet apparent on T 1 'N J. FLAIR & 'T'2 WJ can detect acute infraction but with better visualization by FLAIR images when it's periventricular or cortical in position. Chronic infractions appear as hyperintense area on T2 WI & hypointense areR on FLAIR. MRA is very important in assessing intracranial vessels, arterial • mam stem occlusion is easily be shown by MRA. MRA is very essential in decision oftreatment. T2 * can detect Hemorrhagic infractions efficiently. So, our stroke protocol includes the use of - DWI for early detection of stroke ( it holds considerRble advantage over FLAIR & fast spin echo ( FSE ) imaging for identifying cerebral infarcts in the hyperacute and acute periods.