The Role of Ct and Mri in Acute Stroke Evaluation: A Comparative Study

Introduction: Imaging of the brain provides a solid foundation upon which clinical interpretations can be made, which can then be used to address individual patient management in an acute stroke context. CT and MRI both are used for imaging brain during the disease. The present study was conducted to compare Brain imaging CT vs MRI in diagnosis of acute stroke. Material and Methods: The comparative study after the approval by the Ethics Committee of Jaipur National University Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, and the experimental protocols were performed in accordance with the approved guidelines. Informed consent were obtained from all the participants before the study. The subject underwent NCCT head in Jaipur National University, Institute for Medical Sciences and Research in Toshiba Alexion 16 slice helical CT Scanner working on a compact mechanism and the images was processed on Alexion software.. The subject also undergoes MRI brain in the Radiology Department of Jaipur National University Institute of medical sciences and research. The study were done by using 1.5 tesla 8 - Channel superconducting magnate, MAGNETOM SEMPRA SEIMENS. Results: The distribution of age groups reveals that individuals aged 61-70 years comprised the largest proportion (31.3%). Male (59.4%) were more in number as compared to females. Hemiplegia emerges as the most common clinical presentation, affecting a signicant majority of cases (76.6%). The study identies hypertension as the most prevalent risk factor among participants, affecting a vast majority of cases (92.2%). Diabetes also emerges as a common risk factor, affecting 60.9% of participants. Radiological ndings showed various abnormalities, with hypodensity being the most common on NCCT Head (32.8% had no identiable abnormalities), and imaging characteristics On MRI brain indicating hypointensity on T1 (95.3%), hyperintensity on T1 (4.7%), hyperintensity on T2 (95.3%) and FLAIR (95.3%), restriction on DWI (93.8%), and blooming on GRE or SWI (34.4%). Conclusion: It found that MRI, especially when employing diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) sequences, demonstrated greater sensitivity in identifying strokes compared to CT scans. MRI provided more comprehensive information regarding stroke subtypes and the presence of hemorrhagic transformation.