Cerebral angiography in the assessment of acute cerebral ischemia: guidelines and recommendations.

Catheter-based cerebral angiography remains an essential tool for evaluating patients with acute cerebral ischemia. Noninvasive vascular imaging techniques have yet to achieve the accuracy and wide availability necessary for this purpose. Angiography is rarely indicated when patients present within the short 3-hour time window for treatment with intravenous alteplase. For the many patients who present later in their course, however, angiography is useful for the accurate evaluation of the cerebral vasculature. In addition, angiography serves as the foundation for the endovascular therapies that may be performed to treat acute ischemic stroke beyond the 3-hour time window.