Which MRI sequence is used to detect cytotoxic edema before vasogenic edema?
Vasogenic edema shows HyperIntense T2 and FLAIR signals, which do not show Restricted diffusion.(Cytotoxic cerebral edema, which shows diffusion restriction). The one sequence which is able to identify cytotoxic oedema, and was thus responsible for a revolution in the imaging of acute Ischaemic stroke, is Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI).
T1WI
T2WI
SWI
DWI
Magnetic Resonance Imaging