Pediatric magnetic resonance angiography: assessment of stroke.

Thirty-one (59.6%) of 52 magnetic resonance angiographic (MRA) studies performed on pediatric patients were for evaluation of strokes. Thirteen of the 31 patients (41.9%) of MRA studies were positive for either vascular occlusion or congenital vascular malformation (arteriovenous, venous, or aneurysm). Results indicate that MRA is a valuable noninvasive diagnostic tool that can be routinely performed as part of the initial magnetic resonance evaluation, often thereby avoiding the need for conventional angiography in occlusive vascular disease, and permitting the performance of conventional angiography, in the case of vascular malformations, later when the patient is stable.