[MRI of middle cerebral artery occlusion]

Magnetic resonance imagings (MRIs) of ten patients with angiographically proved middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion were retrospectively reviewed. Eight of the ten patients had cerebral infarcts, one had an intraventricular hemorrhage, and the remaining one had no significant abnormalities. All patients were examined by the 1.5 Tesla SIGNA (GE), using spin-echo pulse sequences. In all patients, occluded MCA could be detected by MRI. All occluded arteries showed absence of flow void and were demonstrated as iso- or hyperintense structures relative to gray matter on T1-weighted images, iso- or hypointense on T2-weighted images. In eight of the ten patients, absence of flow void in the sylvian fissure was observed on T2-weighted images. Thus, MRI was proved to be a pertinent diagnostic modality for evaluating MCA occlusions.