Neuroimaging clinics of North America
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Stroke is a leading cause of death and adult morbidity worldwide. By defining stroke symptom onset by the time the patient was last known to be well, many patients whose onsets are unwitnessed are automatically ineligible for thrombolytic therapy. Advanced brain imaging may serve as a substitute witness to estimate stroke onset and duration in those patients who do not have a human witness. This article reviews and compares some of these imaging-based approaches to thrombolysis eligibility, which can potentially expand the use of thrombolytic therapy to a broader population of acute stroke patients.
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Neuroimaging Clin. N. Am. · May 2011
ReviewNoninvasive carotid artery imaging with a focus on the vulnerable plaque.
Currently carotid imaging has 2 main focuses: assessment of luminal stenosis and classification of atherosclerotic plaque characteristics. Measurement of the degree of stenosis is the main assessment used for current treatment decision making, but an evolving idea that is now driving imaging is the concept of vulnerable plaque, which is where plaque components are identified and used to define which plaques are at high risk of causing symptoms compared with those at low risk. This review article covers the methods used for noninvasive assessment of carotid luminal stenosis and the options available for plaque imaging.
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Although acute stroke imaging has made significant progress in the last few years, several improvements and validation steps are needed to make stroke-imaging techniques fully operational and appropriate in daily clinical practice. This review outlines the needs in the stroke-imaging field and describes a consortium that was founded to provide them.