Iodine Extravasation Quantification on Dual-Energy CT of the Brain Performed after Mechanical Thrombectomy for Acute Ischemic Stroke Can Predict Hemorrhagic Complications

Background and purpose Because computed tomography (CT) is the most commonly used imaging modality for the evaluation of acute ischemic stroke patients, developing CT-based techniques for improving clot characterization could prove useful. The purpose of this in-vitro study was to determine which single-energy or dual-energy CT techniques provided optimum discrimination between red blood cell (RBC) and fibrin-rich clots. Materials and methods Seven clot types with varying fibrin and RBC densities were made (90% RBC, 99% RBC, 63% RBC, 36% RBC, 18% RBC and 0% RBC with high and low fibrin density) and their composition was verified histologically. Ten of each clot type were created and scanned with a second generation dual source scanner using three single (80 kV, 100 kV, 120 kV) and two dual-energy protocols (80/Sn 140 kV and 100/Sn 140 kV). A region of interest (ROI) was placed over each clot and mean attenuation was measured. Receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated at each energy level to determine the accuracy at differentiating RBC-rich clots from fibrin-rich clots. Results Clot attenuation increased with RBC content at all energy levels. Single-energy at 80 kV and 120 kV and dual-energy 80/Sn 140 kV protocols allowed for distinguishing between all clot types, with the exception of 36% RBC and 18% RBC. On receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the 80/Sn 140 kV dual-energy protocol had the highest area under the curve for distinguishing between fibrin-rich and RBC-rich clots (area under the curve 0.99). Conclusions Dual-energy CT with 80/Sn 140 kV had the highest accuracy for differentiating RBC-rich and fibrin-rich in-vitro thrombi. Further studies are needed to study the utility of non-contrast dual-energy CT in thrombus characterization in acute ischemic stroke.

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New Advances in Acute Ischemic Stroke Management: Review Article

International Clinical Neuroscience Journal ◽

10.34172/icnj.2020.02 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 55-60

Author(s):

Hossein Aghamiri ◽

Sepideh Paybast ◽

Behnam Safarpour Lima ◽

Behnam Mansoori

Keyword(s):

Ischemic Stroke ◽

Acute Ischemic Stroke ◽

Mechanical Thrombectomy ◽

Web Of Science ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Data Extraction ◽

Treatment Strategies ◽

Recent Advances ◽

The Brain ◽

Arterial Thrombolysis

Cerebrovascular disease is the second cause of death and the sixth cause of morbidity worldwide, which will rise to fourth place by 2020. The treatment strategies for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) divided into two groups, including intravenous or intra-arterial thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy. Regarding growing development in the realm of diagnosis and treatment of stroke through state-of-the-art approaches, including emergent thrombectomy, there are new opportunities for investigation in this area. This is while a rough rate of 85% for strokes is occupied by, and the remained is hemorrhagic. Hence, the present study aimed to review recent advances in AIS with a focus on emergent thrombectomy. Here, we first provided the relevant history, and then the recent advances were discussed. The library data collection method was employed so that such databases as Web of Science, PubMed, and Science Direct used for data extraction. The evidence confirms the importance of emergent thrombectomy as all believe the famous statement "time is the brain." However, further investigations are required to find more strong evidence accordingly.

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