Abstract
There is doubt as to whether acute haemorrhage is visible on MRI. We carried out MRI within 6 h of symptom onset on five patients with minor (low Hunt and Hess grades 1 or 2) subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) diagnosed by CT to search for any specific pattern. We used our standard stroke MRI protocol, including multiecho proton density (PD)- and T2-weighted images, echoplanar (EPI) diffusion- (DWI) and perfusion- (PWI) weighted imaging, and MRA. In all cases SAH was clearly visible on PD-weighted images with a short TE. In four patients it caused a low-signal rim on the T2*-weighted source images of PWI, and DWI revealed high signal in SAH. In the fifth patient SAH was perimesencephalic; susceptibility effects from the skull base made it impossible to detect SAH on EPI DWI and T2*-weighted images. Perfusion maps were normal in all cases. MRA and conventional angiography revealed an aneurysm in only one patient. Stroke MRI within 6 h of SAH thus shows a characteristic pattern.
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Acknowledgments
We wish to express our gratitude to all members of the Heidelberg departments of neuroradiology, neurology, neurosurgery and the emergency room team, without whom this study could not have been achieved. The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft supports our work with two research grants (SCHE 613/1-1 and FI 897/1-1).
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Fiebach, J.B., Schellinger, P.D., Geletneky, K. et al. MRI in acute subarachnoid haemorrhage; findings with a standardised stroke protocol. Neuroradiology 46, 44–48 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-003-1132-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-003-1132-8