The computerized tomographic assessment of brain infarcts

The evolution of ischemic cerebral infarction in infancy: a sonographic evaluation

Cranial sonography provides a noninvasive, portable method for imaging the infant brain. This study describes the time-dependent, sonographic findings of infantile cerebral infarction, as well as computed tomographic (CT) scan and neuropathologic confirmation. Three hundred ninety-five infants under 18 months of age were sonogrammed over a period of 18 months. Three infants were diagnosed by cranial sonography and confirmed by CT scan and/or autopsy to have acute ischemic cerebral infarcts. The cases were followed with serial cranial sonograms for up to 18 months of age. The acute sonographic findings included a hyperechoic zone around the infarcted tissue. The subacute infarct had a checkerboard pattern, while the chronic infarcts were anechoic.

CT findings in hemorrhagic cerebral infarct

Hemorrhagic cerebral infarcts can be detected by computer tomography (CT) as a high density lesion in the margins or inside a low density infarcted area. However the CT features are not always characteristic and the specific diagnosis is sometimes impossible. We describe the CT findings in initial and follow-up examinations of three arterial and one venous hemorrhagic infarcts and discuss the diagnostic problems.