ARTERIAL ENHANCEMENT IN ACUTE CEREBRAL-ISCHEMIA - CLINICAL AND ANGIOGRAPHIC CORRELATION

PURPOSE: To investigate the cause and clinical significance of arteria l enhancement (AE) in contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MR examinations af ter acute cerebral ischemia. METHODS: Contrast MR examinations and con ventional angiograms of 17 patients studied following an acute ischemi c event or an internal carotid occlusion were retrospectively reviewed . MR and angiographic studies were performed within 1 day of each othe r. The presence of AE was correlated with both angiographic findings a nd patient clinical status. RESULTS: AE was not confined to patients w ith angiographic evidence of complete arterial occlusion. Only 64% of patients demonstrating AE had complete occlusion angiographically. Com plete arterial occlusion did not always correlate with AE. In two of n ine patients with complete occlusion, no AE was identified. In five of 10 patients with AE, angiographic slow flow was identified. In patien ts without AE, no angiographic slow flow was identified. In the 64% of patients with AE, significant symptoms were identified. Patients with out AE were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms at the time of th e MR study. CONCLUSIONS: Our data support the hypothesis that arterial slowing is the cause of AE, which appears to be an indicator of decre ased brain perfusion. Such MR findings may add important supplemental information to those provided by conventional angiography.