2/Many know anterior circulation ASPECTS. It uses a 10 point scoring system to semi-quantitate the amount of the MCA territory infarcted on non-contrast head CT.
If you need a review: here’s my tweetorial on ASPECTS:
3/But it’s only useful for the anterior circulation. Posterior circulation accounts for ~25% of infarcts. Even w/recanalization, many of these pts do poorly bc of the extent of already infarcted tissue. So there’s a need to quantitate the amount of infarcted tissue in these pts
4/Posterior circulation ASPECTS, or pc-ASPECTS for short, is also a 10 point system—but for the vertebrobasilar circulation. Patients get points for each region NOT infarcted on the initial CT.
5/Similar to anterior ASPECTS, points are GOOD
It’s like a city—when a region infarcts, it is like the lights go out in that city region (literally, tissue darkens on CT)
In ant & post ASPECTS, you are counting the regions where the lights are still on—so high ASPECTS is good
6/Which regions get scored?
The biggest prognostic factors in posterior strokes are time & amount of already infarcted tissue.
It’s a little different than anterior ASPECTS, where every region just got one point
For pc-ASPECTS, think of it like a mother. She only has 2 arms. So if there are two kids, they have to split the arms—only one arm can be wrapped around each kid
8/So unpaired structures, like the brainstem, are like having only one kid—you get both arms wrapped around you = 2 arms = 2 points.
If the structures are paired, like the cerebellum, it’s like having two kids--they must split the arms. Each gets only 1 arm = 1 point
9/So lets go through our regions using the mnemonic.
Each thalmus is worth only 1 point, bc they’re paired & have to share their mother’s arms.
The unpaired midbrain is worth 2 points (gets both arms)
10/Pons is unpaired, so it is worth 2 points.
But the paired cerebellar hemispheres & occipital cortex are each only worth 1 point per side, as each side claims only one of the mother’s arms
11/While there’s evidence that higher pc-ASPECTS means poorer outcome, there’s no consensus about what pc-ASPECTS score definitively confers a UFO (unfavorable outcome).
But the consensus about what confers a UFO in anterior circulation ASPECTS may change soon as well!
12/So now you know the regions & scoring for pc-ASPECTS!
Remember, the anterior circulation isn’t the only aspect of ASPECTS!
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1/I always say you can tell a bad read on a spine MR if it doesn’t talk about lateral recesses.
What will I think when I see your read? Do you rate lateral recess stenosis?
Here’s a thread on lateral recess anatomy & a grading system for lateral recess stenosis
2/First anatomy.
Thecal sac is like a highway, carrying the nerve roots down the lumbar spine.
Lateral recess is part of the lateral lumbar canal, which is essentially the exit for spinal nerve roots to get off the thecal sac highway & head out into the rest of the body
3/Exits have 3 main parts.
First is the deceleration lane, where the car slows down as it starts the process of exiting.
Then there is the off ramp itself, and this leads into the service road which takes the car to the roads that it needs to get to its destination
3/At its most basic, you can think of the PPF as a room with 4 doors opening to each of these regions: one posteriorly to the skullbase, one medially to the nasal cavity, one laterally to the infratemporal fossa, and one anteriorly to the orbit
1/My hardest thread yet! Are you up for the challenge?
How stroke perfusion imaging works!
Ever wonder why it’s Tmax & not Tmin?
Do you not question & let RAPID read the perfusion for you? Not anymore!
2/Perfusion imaging is based on one principle: When you inject CT or MR intravenous contrast, the contrast flows w/blood & so contrast can be a surrogate marker for blood.
This is key, b/c we can track contrast—it changes CT density or MR signal so we can see where it goes.
3/So if we can track how contrast gets to the tissue (by changes in CT density or MR signal), then we can approximate how BLOOD is getting to the tissue.
And how much blood is getting to the tissue is what perfusion imaging is all about.