Background and purpose:
CT perfusion (CTP) provides rapid and accessible imaging of ischemic stroke pathophysiology. Studies with limited brain coverage CTP have suggested that relative cerebral blood flow (relCBF) is the optimal CTP parameter to define irreversible infarction. We analyzed patients with whole brain CT perfusion and contemporaneous MR perfusion-diffusion imaging to confirm the optimal CTP parameter for infarct core and compare mismatch classification between MR and CT.
Methods:
Acute ischemic stroke patients <6hr after onset had whole brain CTP (320slice) closely followed by perfusion-diffusion MRI. Maps of CBF, CBV and time-to-peak of the deconvolved tissue residue function (Tmax) were generated by RAPID automated perfusion analysis software (Stanford University) using delay insensitive deconvolution. The optimal CTP map to identify infarct core was selected by maximizing the average Dice co-efficient across the same threshold range for all patients using co-registered diffusion lesion (manually outlined to its maximal visual extent) as reference region. Mismatch classification agreement between CT and MRI was then assessed using 2 definitions: mismatch ratio a) >1.2 or b) >1.8, absolute mismatch a) >10mL or b) >15mL, infarct core<70mL.
Results:
In 28 patients imaged <6hr from stroke onset (median age 69, median onset to CT 180min, median CT to MR 69min), relCBF provided the most accurate estimate for infarct core, significantly better than absolute or relative CBV (both p<0.001). Using relCBF to generate acute CTP infarct core volumes, the median magnitude of volume difference versus diffusion MR was 6.9mL, interquartile range 1.6-27.4mL. CTP mismatch between relCBF core and Tmax>6sec perfusion lesion was assessed in 25 patients (3/28 had no MR perfusion). CTP and MR perfusion-diffusion mismatch classification agreed in 23/25 (92%) patients (kappa 0.84) using either definition.
Conclusions:
This study using whole brain CTP confirms the greater accuracy of CBF over CBV for estimation of the infarct core. The >90% agreement in mismatch classification between CTP and MRI supports the concept that both modalities can identify similar patient populations for clinical trials of reperfusion therapies.
Diffusion imaging of cerebral diaschisis in neonatal arterial ischemic stroke