Correlative Study Between the Early Computer Tomographic Images and the Etiologic Types of Acute Ischemic Stroke

Abstract

The study was carried out on a batch of 2200 patients showing a clinical symptomatology typical of the acute ischemic stroke, who were submitted to an initial computer tomographic examination within 18 hours from the onset of the symptoms. The purpose of the study is to establish a correlation between the etiologic diagnosis of the stroke (thrombotic or embolic) and the typical image appearing in the initial scan. For most embolic strokes, the initial scan was a positive one, with early signs or frankly positive images, but without specificity. For the presumed thrombotic strokes, the initial CT scan was mainly negative. There are more images of the positive initial CT scans that were conclusive and suggestive of thrombosis than of cerebral embolism. The study concludes that it is impossible for the type of ischemic stroke to be established with certainty by the initial CT examination, according to the etiologic criterion (thrombotic/embolic), as that requires a much more complex analysis of the etiologic factors.