About this Research Topic

Background

Cerebral tissue edema is a pathophysiological hallmark of acute ischemic injury. Cerebral ischemia below a critical perfusion threshold results in disturbed water homeostasis, and subsequently a net uptake of water and cations into the ischemic tissue. As a severe complication, progressive water uptake may lead to space-occupying edema within the first days after stroke onset with mortality up to 80%. Therefore, the identification and validation of reliable neuroimaging biomarkers for brain edema remain an elementary challenge of stroke imaging, especially considering recent advances in artificial intelligence-based automated imaging tools.

Furthermore, it has recently been observed that treatment strategies in ischemic stroke directly affect the formation of vasogenic edema following stroke. Hence, ischemic vasogenic edema may be tested as a therapeutic target for both endovascular treatment, as well as novel adjuvant neuroprotective drugs.

In this Research Topic, we aim to investigate neuroimaging biomarkers of ischemic vasogenic edema in acute stroke for imaging triage, measurement of treatment effects, and prediction of functional outcome. Our goal is to better understand interindividual differences in edema formation as an indicator of infarct progression to optimize treatment strategies for every patient.

Furthermore, manuscripts describing novel insights in pathophysiological mechanisms of ischemic edema are welcome. In particular, we welcome reports on novel methods of edema quantification using AI-based approaches, or automated imaging tools. This Topic is currently not open for submission of pre-clinical papers.

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to the following:

• Mechanisms of ischemic cerebral edema in acute stroke
• Novel methods of edema quantification in stroke CT or MRI
• Dual Energy CT for the detection of cerebral ischemic edema
• Clinical consequences of vasogenic edema
• Impact of adjuvant treatment strategies on vasogenic edema after stroke
• Prediction of malignant edema following acute ischemic stroke
• Artificial Intelligence-based quantification and prediction of vasogenic edema

Keywords: Brain Edema, Infarction, Ischemia, Biomarkers, Imaging, Computed Tomography

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