Computed Tomography Patterns of Brain Infarctions as a Pathogenetic Key

Traditionally, differentiation of patients suffering from ischemic strokes was based on clinical findings and the course of the disease. Categories such as transient ischemic attacks (TIA), prolonged reversible ischemic neurological deficit (PRIND), and completed stroke have been used as major criteria for stroke classification and consequently for therapeutic decision-making. Before CT became available, and when angiography was still widely used as the basic diagnostic tool for imaging of cerebrovascular disease, virtually any type and degree of carotid lesion could be correlated with numerous hemispheric ischemic events. This was also true of cerebrovascular accidents and associated arterial lesions within the vertebrobasilar system. Hemodynamic mechanisms were thought to be the major factors in the pathophysiology of stroke.