The Investigation of choice for Acute stroke is
(A) CT scan # Investigation of Acute Stroke: CT is the most practical and widely available method of imaging the brain. It will usually exclude non-stroke lesions, including subdural haematomas and brain tumours.> It will demonstrate intracerebral haemorrhage within minutes of stroke onset.> However, especially within the first few hours after symptom onset, CT changes in cerebral infarction may be completely absent or very subtle, though changes usually evolve over time.> For most purposes, a CT scan performed within the first day or so is adequate for clinical care but there are certain circumstances in which an immediate CT scan is essential.> Even in the absence of changes suggesting infarction, abnormal perfusion of brain tissue can be imaged with CT after injection of contrast media (i.e. perfusion scanning). This can be useful in guiding hyper-acute treatment of ischaemic stroke.> MRI is not as widely available as CT, scanning times are longer & it cannot be used in some individuals with contraindications
CT scan
MRI angiography
Functional MRI
Contrast CT
Miscellaneous