title: Recent advances in magnetic resonance imaging in posterior circulation stroke: implications for diagnosis and prognosis.
abstract: For some time, posterior circulation stroke has been neglected in diagnostic and therapeutic studies for various reasons, such as minor incidence compared to anterior circulation stroke or anatomical and vascular characteristics. This changed at least partly when the New England Medical Center (NEMC) Posterior Circulation Registry was initiated, and now the number of publications concerning posterior circulation stroke is continuously increasing. Whether the differences outweigh the similarities between posterior and anterior circulation stroke remains open to debate, but both are the subject of intensive investigations. In this article, we review the most recent literature on different MRI techniques, such as diffusion-weighted and diffusion tensor imaging (DWI and DTI), perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI), vascular imaging, and susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI), in posterior circulation stroke and discuss their diagnostic and prognostic impact as well as general implications for acute treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Universitätsmedizin Medizin Mannheim, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer, 68137, Mannheim, Germany, foerster@neuro.ma.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Förster
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Griebe
authors.forename: Achim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gass
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Hennerici
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Szabo