Kimmo Jokivarsi1, Yrj Hiltunen2, Risto Kauppinen3, Olli Grhn1
1Department of Neurobiology, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland; 2Department of Environmental Science, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland; 3Biomedical NMR Research Center, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH, USA
We investigated the prediction power of different combinations of MRI parameters in rat middle cerebral artery occlusion model. We show that by using three to four MRI contrasts (including diffusion, T2, T1r and perfusion) in combination, correlation ranging from 0.64 to 0.80 with the histological outcome is achieved. The correlation depends on brain region and age of lesion. Our data suggest that MRI may predict ischemic lesion expansion and fate of tissue at risk of stroke in a clinically useful manner.