Abstract
The evolution of acute cerebral ischemia was documented by magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in 13 mongrel cats with occlusion of the middle cerebral artery through a transorbital approach. The animals were imaged under anesthesia at intervals from 30 min to 10 days after production of the lesion. An MR imager operating at 0.35 T was used with multislice, multi-spin-echo technique (TR = 500-2000 msec; TE = 28, 56 msec). The animals were sacrificed after imaging for pathologic correlation. Infarcts beyond 4 hr of age were visualized in all subjects. The earliest infarct was seen at 30 min (two cats) as an area of high signal intensity on T2-weighted images. In three other cats, however, 3-hr-old infarcts were not detectable. In one animal, a hemorrhage within a 1-week-old area of infarction was not characterized by MR imaging but was identified on CT scanning. The mass effect of the infarction appeared greatest at 2-4 days after infarction. The basal ganglia showed ischemic effects to best advantage. MR imaging offers previously unavailable sensitivity for the early noninvasive detection of cerebral ischemia in vivo.
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