Experimental thromboembolic stroke studied by positron emission tomography: immediate versus delayed reperfusion by...

Acute obstruction of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) was obtained by injecting a single autologous blood clot into the internal carotid artery of dogs. The technique induced very reproducible unilateral ischemic lesions in the MCA territory; hemorrhagic transformation of the lesions was often seen. The hemodynamic and metabolic effects of blood clot embolism were studied in 35 dogs with positron emission tomography (PET) and the 15O steady-state technique, and compared with a control group of seven intact animals. In the acute phase, the involved brain tissue still had a nearly normal oxygen consumption (-11%) despite the lowered tissue perfusion (-20%) caused by the vascular obstruction. The lowered oxygen availability was compensated by an increased oxygen extraction ratio (+11%). Twenty-four hours after the insult, the hemodynamic situation had barely changed, and the ischemic event had evolved into a brain infarct in which oxygen consumption was clearly lowered (-25%) and accompanied by a significant lowering (-22%) of the oxygen extraction ratio compared with the acute situation. Therapeutic thrombolysis by local administration of streptokinase (500,000 IU), starting 30 min after the insult, was not able to salvage any brain tissue or to ameliorate tissue perfusion despite angiographically confirmed clot lysis. However, when fibrinolytic therapy was started within the first 5 min after the insult, hemispheric blood flow was normalized, and most of the threatened brain tissue was salvaged, as was indicated by its normalized oxygen consumption and oxygen extraction ratio. Early fibrinolysis was accompanied by definite clinical improvement and substantial reduction in the severity of the morphological lesions that were never hemorrhagic.