Changes in perfusion imaging - related to medium vessel occlusion in amnion cell trial - arterial spin labelling study

Arterial Spin Labelling (ASL) is a non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique used to assess cerebral blood flow (CBF). There are many advantages of this approach in ischaemic stroke, namely it avoids the use of contrast and the potential contrast toxicity in patients with renal failure. ASL is also sensitive in detecting areas of hypoperfusion, and when combined with diffusion-weighted MR images, can help predict tissue viability and recovery. Patients with suspected stroke undergo contrast perfusion CT image as this form of imaging is easily accessible, as such there is a lack of data regarding ASL use in acute stroke. The aim of this project is to observe the trend and evolution of brain parenchyma post-ischaemic stroke. This is possible as ASL data was collected in amnion cell trial (ACT-1) at 4 separate time points (day 0, day 7, day 30 and day 365) for each patient. This will be analysed using MATLAB programming language. Findings from the study will aid in further understanding of the clinical application of ASL in ischaemic stroke.