Improved Detection and Treatment for Stroke Patients with Susceptibility-Weighted Imaging

A new study demonstrated that susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) is a powerful tool for characterizing infarctions in patients earlier and directing faster treatment.

In the United States, stroke is the third-leading cause of death and overall affects almost one million people each year, said Dr. Mark D. Mamlouk, from the University of California, Irvine (USA), and lead author of the study . He stated, "There are different causes of stroke of which the thromboembolic [clot] subtype is one of the most common."

Traditionally, SWI, which is a specific magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequence, has been used as a secondary tool to assess intracerebral hemorrhages and detect clots with middle cerebral artery (MCA) infarctions. Now, Dr. Mamlouk noted, "Any patient that has a suspicion of stroke, we can add the SWI sequence as part of their MRI brain protocols to better characterize the [origin of the] stroke."

For the study, researchers evaluated that of the 35 patients with thromboembolic infarctions, SWI identified thromboemboli in 30 patients. Moreover, 14 of these thromboemboli were located in arteries other than the anterior division of the MCA. Dr. Mamlouk said, "At our institution, we are amazed at how often SWI detects thromboemboli in all major cerebral arteries, not just the MCA. Given SWI's high sensitivity [86%] of thromboemboli detection, we found that there is an adjunctive role of SWI in classifying cerebral infarctions in patients."

Whereas MRI scans have been the gold standard for evaluating infarctions, adding SWI to the routine MRI sequences for assessing patients with a clinical suspicion of stroke will hasten their time to treatment and improve overall recovery, according to Dr. Anton Hasso, senior author of the study. Dr. Mamlouk stated, "The utility of SWI extends beyond the evaluation of hemorrhage. Using SWI in patients with cerebral infarctions will decrease further imaging and its associated costs and radiation exposure, but more importantly this imaging technique will guide direct management in a timelier manner."

Dr. Mamlouk presented the study's findings on May 4, 2011, at the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) annual meeting held in Chicago, IL, USA.

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