title: MRI in acute subarachnoid haemorrhage; findings with a standardised stroke protocol.
abstract: There is doubt as to whether acute haemorrhage is visible on MRI. We carried out MRI within 6 h of symptom onset on five patients with minor (low Hunt and Hess grades 1 or 2) subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) diagnosed by CT to search for any specific pattern. We used our standard stroke MRI protocol, including multiecho proton density (PD)- and T2-weighted images, echoplanar (EPI) diffusion- (DWI) and perfusion- (PWI) weighted imaging, and MRA. In all cases SAH was clearly visible on PD-weighted images with a short TE. In four patients it caused a low-signal rim on the T2*-weighted source images of PWI, and DWI revealed high signal in SAH. In the fifth patient SAH was perimesencephalic; susceptibility effects from the skull base made it impossible to detect SAH on EPI DWI and T2*-weighted images. Perfusion maps were normal in all cases. MRA and conventional angiography revealed an aneurysm in only one patient. Stroke MRI within 6 h of SAH thus shows a characteristic pattern.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuroradiology, Department of Neurology, University of Heidelberg Medical Centre, Im Neuenheimer Feld 400, 69120, Germany. Jochen_Fiebach@med.uni-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Fiebach
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Schellinger
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Geletneky
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wilde
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hacke
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sartor
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D019291:Skull Base; D020521:Stroke / Q000473:pathology*; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000473:pathology*