Magnetic resonance imaging of experimental microinfarctions in the rabbit brain

Small hyperintense lesions are frequently found with T-2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the human brain. A significant number of these lesions are probably infarctions. Because there is often a long delay between the microischemic impact and the autopsy, if any, and as the specificity of the MRI is low for detecting ischemic lesions, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the clinicotopographic correlations. This work concerns the usefulness of MRI in detecting experimental microischemic lesions in the rabbit brain about 24 h after the impact. It seems that the sensitivity of T-2-weighted MRI in detecting foci of damaged areas in the rabbit brain is good enough to make it useful for evaluating tissue damage when screening for potential neuroprotective drugs and that the experimental model should be useful for developing diagnostically valuable MRI techniques. (C) 1997 Academic Press.