Ischemic stroke (summary)
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This is a basic article for medical students and other non-radiologists
Stroke is a clinical diagnosis where an acute neurological deficit follows a cerebrovascular insult. There are two main groups of stroke: ischaemic (>80%) or haemorrhagic (<20%) 1.
Reference article
This is a summary article; read more in our article on stroke.
Summary
- anatomy
-
epidemiology
- common
- leading cause of disability
- third highest cause of mortality in the UK 2,3
-
presentation
- sudden neurological deficit
- manifest symptoms depend on the vascular territories involved
- time of onset is important when considering treatment
-
pathophysiology
- brain parenchyma is deprived of blood flow and therefore oxygen
- ischaemic
- arteries occluded by thrombus or embolus
- temporary loss of blood flow may occur (TIA)
- cell death results in oedema and swelling
-
investigation
- non-contrast CT head in the first instance
- exclude haemorrhage or other cause
- may show hyperdense vessel or evidence of infarction
- CT angiography
- some centres use this to identify blockages and assess collaterals when planning clot retrieval
- MRI
- less commonly used for acute events, but good for identifying infarcts (especially using DWI sequences)
- ultrasound
- carotid Doppler ultrasound in the peri-stroke period to select patients who may benefit from endarterectomy
- non-contrast CT head in the first instance
-
treatment
- thrombolysis or thrombectomy
- ischaemic strokes
less than 4<4.5 hours old - depends on the local protocol
- should be discussed with an acute stroke service
- ischaemic strokes
- stroke patients should be managed in a stroke centre
- oral antiplatelet therapy
- medical management of hypertension and risk factor reduction
- thrombolysis or thrombectomy
Imaging
-
role of imaging
- is there evidence of stroke?
- what is the distribution and severity of the stroke?
- is there haemorrhagic transformation?
- is a cause visible, e.g. in situ thrombus?
- are there contraindications to IV thrombolysis?
- are there indications for clot-retrieval?
- is there significant carotid stenosis?
-
radiographic features
- CT
- parenchymal infarction may not be visible in the acute setting
- with time, cytotoxic oedema causes reduced density on CT
- clot within a vessel may be seen as hyperdensity
- acute haemorrhage will appear dense
- MRI
- the most important sequence is the DWI (diffusion sequence)
- diffusion restriction in this context is highly sensitive for ischaemia
- angiography (CTA/MRA/DSA)
- assessment of arterial supply to confirm whether a clot is present
- perfusion (CT/MRI)
- assessment of ischaemic/infarcted areas
- ischaemia may be reversible
- carotid
dopplerDoppler- not in the acute setting but usually within two weeks following onset
- assessment of the neck vessels looking for carotid stenosis
- if >70% stenosis on affected side, surgery may be offered
- CT
-<li>ischaemic strokes less than 4.5 hours old</li>- +<li>ischaemic strokes <4.5 hours old</li>
-<li>carotid doppler<ul>- +<li>carotid Doppler<ul>