Assessment of Cerebral Collaterals in Acute Ischemic Stroke by CT Cerebral Angiography and Its Relation to the Functional Outcome

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Until recently, there was little interest in measuring cerebral perfusion because therapies that might improve perfusion were not available. Now we have a variety of recanalization and flow augmentation procedures. In addition, older perfusion measurement techniques suffered from a lack of speed, resolution, ability to accurately quantify perfusion, and reproducibility of blood flow values. With the development of helical and spiral computed tomography (CT) and echo-planar magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, we now have very rapid imaging techniques that make it possible to rapidly follow a bolus of contrast material or image a large area of the brain, thereby increasing the accuracy and applicability of these techniques.