Cerebral blood flow from arterial spin labeling may serve as a marker for clinical outcome following large vessel occlusion and thrombectomy

Motivation: Determination of a non-invasive imaging biomarker for outcome following ischemic stroke. Goal(s): To investigate whether cerebral blood flow from arterial spin labeling can be used as an imaging biomarker for assessment of clinical outcome following stroke with mechanical thrombectomy. Approach: Prospective study with pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling acquired few days after mechanical thrombectomy, combined with outcome evaluation few days and 3-months post-stroke. Results: Percent cerebral blood flow difference (i.e., between infarct masks in relation to the mirrored mask in the unaffected hemisphere), pre-stroke modified Rankin Scale, and infarct volume were associated with functional independence (i.e., modified Rankin Scale 0-2 at 3-months post-stroke). Impact: Percent cerebral blood flow difference from the infarct territory may predict functional independence in patients with ischemic stroke and mechanical thrombectomy. Thus, this quantitative parameter may be used as an early non-invasive imaging biomarker to predict clinical outcome.