Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in patients with ischemic stroke.

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) is a non-invasive technique which has proved to be useful for monitoring various brain metabolites (N-acetyl-aspartate, choline, creatine-phosphocreatine, lactate). A total of 18 patients underwent a combined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/1H-MRS protocol in order to evaluate the distribution of the metabolites in the various stages of cerebral ischemia. Our results show a marked decrease of N-acetyl-aspartate and a large content of Lactate during the early phases, and a decrease in N-acetyl-aspartate, choline and creatine-phosphocreatine (Cr-PCr) during the chronic phase.