Intravenous thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke has been investigated in several clinical trials without enough information on collateral blood flow and perfusion deficit in the ischemic areas. The therapeutic time window varies from patient to patient depending on these factors. Triphasic perfusion computed tomography (TPCT) can provide this information as reliably as conventional angiography.
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Ilwon-dong, Kangnam-ku, Seoul, 135-710, Korea. khlee@smc.samsung.co.kr.