Effectiveness of CT perfusion in diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke

Stroke is the third most common death reason after the cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Cerebrovascular pathologies are responsible from the 95% of the stroke cases. Stroke incidences associated with cerebrovascular pathologies are caused by the ischemic reasons with 80%. Cerebral ischemia is a pathology that stems from the decrease in cerebral perfusion.In recent years, parallel to the developing screening methods, it is shown that, acute ischemic stroke can be cured by the trombolitic treapy within 4-6 hours after symptoms onset. Since rapid screening and accurate diagnosis increases the success of the treatment, the role of neuroradiology in acute ischemia diagnosis and treatment has become more important.We have used 42 patients that applied to the emergency service and neurology outpatient clinic with the symptoms of acute cerebral incidence in the first 48 hours between the dates Decmber 2010 and September 2011. Perfusion CT was performed after conventional BT (VCT XTe Light Speed; General Electric, Milwaukee, USA) in order to show the applicability of perfusion CT in early diagnosis and treatment.Analysis was performed by using the GE 4 perfusion software. CBF, CBV and MTT maps which are indicators of cerebral perfusion were obtained as result parameters. The findings of perfusion CT were compared with the follow-up CT and/or diffusion MRI. The statistical analyses were made. No statistically significant difference was identified ( p>0.05). The sensitivity was 96% and the specificity was 100 % in our perfusion CT technique.Perfusion CT is an additional method to the conventional CT that could be performed by using developed softwares, in a short period of time and with low risk of complications. Perfusion CT not only allows early detection of cerebral ischemia but also gives valuable information about the ischemic penumbra which are very important in early diagnosis and treatment.