Document Type

Article

Department

Neurology

Abstract

Background: This study investigates the role of CT and MR imaging in the diagnosis and management of young stroke patients.

Methods: CT scan findings of 108 patients and MR findings of 30 patients between 15-45 years of age were reviewed retrospectively. The variables included the territory of infarct on CT and MR imaging, the cortical distribution and size of infarct.

Results: About 80% of the patients had infarcts of the carotid territory and 20% the vertebro-basilar distribution. More than half of the infarcts were cortical (56%). The yield of MR imaging was much higher for deeper structures such as basal ganglia, thalamus and brainstem. In half the cases, the infarct size was more than 3 cm.

CONCLUSION: The ratio of carotid to vertebro-basilar infarcts was similar to that reported previously. A large proportion of the carotid territory infarcts were cortical. Deeper infarcts were better imaged with MR scan. There was a high proportion of large infarcts.

Publication (Name of Journal)

Journal of Pakistan Medical Association

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Neurology Commons

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