Stroke (cont.)

CT scan taken some time after a large stroke. The black area is where the stroke was and now the brain tissue has died and left a large hole.

This MRI scan of a new stroke shows some of the new tools available for diagnosing stroke. The left scan shows the severely injured tissue (in white). The picture on the right is of the same person but shows the amount of blood flow to the brain. The dark area on the right side of the brain indicates low blood flow and is much bigger than the white area in the other picture. This suggests that part of the brain is at risk but hasn't been severely injured yet.

This slide illustrates the potential benefits of treating stokes with tPA. For every 16 people with acute stroke (light blue people on top), if you do nothing, they will have the outcomes shown in the second row. Four will do well (green); four will do okay (yellow); five will have severe deficits (gray); and three will die (white). If all of them had received tPA, now more of them have great outcomes (green), fewer have severe outcomes (gray), and the same number die (white). One of those who died had bleeding in the brain caused by the tPA.