Noninvasive Thrombus Imaging in Patients With Ischemic Stroke.

Hybrid [18 F]GP1 PET/CT imaging identified cardiovascular thrombus in nearly two-thirds of acute ischemic stroke patients, changing stroke classification in over 25% of cases.

• Why it matters: Accurate identification of thromboembolism sources in stroke patients remains difficult with current methods, limiting targeted prevention and treatment strategies.
• What they did: A prospective study of 100 stroke patients used [18 F]GP1 PET/CT within 21 days of symptom onset, analyzing its ability to detect thrombi, influence classification, and predict recurrent events.
• The result: Cardiovascular [18 F]GP1 uptake was linked to a 10.4-fold increased risk of recurrent stroke or TIA, highlighting its potential to improve mechanism-based stroke diagnosis and management.