Patients with acute stroke: recent developments in neuroimaging.

The authors discuss recent developments in neuroimaging and their role in the evaluation of patients with acute stroke from diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic points of view. New techniques permit a more detailed evaluation of the pathophysiology of stroke and therefore may lead to better management. This improvement is due to the increased sensitivity of the diagnostic tests in the acute phase of stroke to detect ischemic lesions and the ability to estimate tissue perfusion to determine vascular status.