CT Perfusion Imaging in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke: The Role of Premorbid Statin Treatment.

BACKGROUND

Statins appear to be useful in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Our aim was to evaluate the association between premorbid statin treatment and CT perfusion characteristics of acute ischemic stroke.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of patients with acute stroke secondary to occlusion of large vessels in the anterior circulation was performed to assess collateral flow, ischemic core volume, and ischemic penumbra using CT angiography and CT perfusion maps. Fisher's exact test was used to compare baseline characteristics of patients in the two groups. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test for independent groups was used to compare all variables obtained for the two different groups with and without statin use.

RESULTS

We identified 61 patients, including 29 treated with statins and 32 not treated with statins before stroke onset matched by age, gender, and vascular risk factors except for hypercholesterolemia. The statin group showed lower National Institutes of health Stroke Scale scores at onset (14 ± 6.1 vs. 16 ± 4.5; = 0.04) and lower volumes of brain tissue characterized by impaired cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV), and Tmax9.5-25s; otherwise, no statistically significant difference was found in the volume of the Tmax16-25s between the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Premorbid statin treatment is associated with a favorable imaging condition of acute ischemic stroke in terms of ischemic core and ischemic penumbra volume.