Perfusion adds clinical value to CT evaluation of stroke

January 23, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Perfusion adds clinical value to CT evaluation of stroke Research results promise to combine speed of CT and prognostic power of MR imaging in a single package James Brice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) study of MRI and CT for emergency stroke assessment1 redefined the roles of the 2 imaging modalities most relevant to the diagnosis and characterization of stroke. It elevated MRI to the status of gold standard for both academic and community hospitals and denigrated CT by quantifying its shortcomings. The numbers were damning for CT. The 54% accuracy rate of noncontrast CT for diagnosing ischemic stroke was only slightly better than a coin toss, said Steven Warach, MD, the supervising author of the NINDS study and section chief of stroke diagnostics and therapeutics at NINDS. He confirmed that the trial should encourage every hospital that treats stroke to develop protocols making MRI the primary test for stroke.

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