Magnetic resonance imaging of cerebral ischemia and infarction.

In summary, then, the major strength of MRI in evaluating cerebral ischemia is in the sensitivity that this methodology provides for detection of the disease process. However, it must be realized that edema is a nonspecific event related to various insults affecting the brain. There is still an uncertain capability of MRI in separating acute hemorrhagic from acute ischemic events. The superior sensitivity of MRI should help in investigations aimed at evaluating various forms of intervention in acute ischemia. Because some of these acute changes are at the biochemical rather than morphologic level, proton MRI alone probably will be insufficient to explore numerous variables. For this reason, the potential offered by MRS in cerebral ischemia research and in clinical settings is important. Vascular imaging is relatively complex. Several techniques show promising results but at the present time have poor resolution in comparison to ultrasound and angiography. For the immediate future, they will remain investigational.