Novel imaging approaches to cerebrovascular disease.

Abstract

Imaging techniques available to the physician treating neurovascular disease have substantially grown over the past several decades. New techniques as well as advances in imaging modalities continuously develop and provide an extensive array of modalities to diagnose, characterize, and understand neurovascular pathology. Modern noninvasive neurovascular imaging is generally based on computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, or nuclear imaging and includes CT angiography, CT perfusion, xenon-enhanced CT, single-photon emission CT, positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance angiography, MR perfusion, functional magnetic resonance imaging with global and regional blood oxygen level dependent imaging, and magnetic resonance angiography with the use of the noninvasive optional vessel analysis software (River Forest, Ill). In addition to a brief overview of the technique, this review article discusses the clinical indications, advantages, and disadvantages of each of those modalities.