ABSTRACT
Brain imaging and vascular investigations play a very important role in the diagnosis and
management of patients suspected of having brain embolism. This chapter concentrates on
the recipient artery and its brain supply and covers donor arterial sites as well. The key
questions that physicians should ask are enumerated in Table 1. The essential issues are
whether or not the patient has a brain infarct, and if so, where, how large, and whether
or not intracranial arteries are occluded by emboli. The advent of thrombolytic
treatment and the potential for mechanical opening of occluded arteries have made it
very important to obtain accurate diagnoses quickly and safely in patients seen soon
after the onset of symptom.
