ABSTRACT
Computed tomography perfusion (CTP) imaging is an effective imaging technique increasingly being used in the setting of acute cerebral ischemia and stroke evaluation. It allows a rapid evaluation of brain circulation and aids in the detection of acute ischemic lesions as well as areas with decreased perfusion. Essentially, CTP imaging provides a qualitative as well as quantitative evaluation of cerebral hemodynamics by providing perfusion color maps of cerebral blood volume (CBV), cerebral blood flow (CBF), and mean transit time (MTT), based on the central volume principle that CBF = CBV/MTT. In 2002, J. D. Eastwood et al. did a CTP scanning pilot study in patients with acute middle cerebral artery stroke and found the area of acute stroke to have statistically significant decreases in both mean CBF and CBV values and statistically significant increase in MTT. Subsequently, M. Wintermark et al. compared admission CTP studies with diffusion and perfusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging images in patients with acute stroke.
