Advanced stroke imaging leads to new management challenges

February 6, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Advanced stroke imaging leads to new management challenges Controversies abound in CT and MR use for triage and management of acute stroke patients, but both usher in new era in clinical care H.A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The patient was a married engineer and father of three. He presented to the emergency room with a global arterial circulation deficit, aphasia, and hemiplegia. An earlier noncontrast CT of the brain had found no signs of hemorrhage. An MR scan revealed a considerable perfusion defect caused by a carotid artery occlusion. He arrived 1.5 hours too late, however, for intravenous tissue plasminogen activator thrombolytic therapy. “What am I going to do?” said Dr. Howard A. Rowley, chief of neuroradiology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. “Say ‘Sorry, I can't do anything more, we are going to give you an aspirin and send you to rehab?’ I don't think so.”

See full article and related articles at DiagnosticImaging.com
This article was republished with permission from CMPMedica, LLC