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Clinicians and researchers have long sought ways to determine whether acute-stroke patients have viable but ischemic brain tissue (“penumbra”) that could be saved by reperfusion. Unlike the plain CT scan, clinical examination and advanced MRI and CT protocols can allow clinicians to identify the presence and location of arterial occlusions and the extent of brain infarction and hypoperfusion. To examine whether such techniques can identify patients more likely to benefit from reperfusion, the Diffusion and Perfusion Imaging Evaluation For Understanding Stroke Evolution (DEFUSE) investigators in Europe and North America enrolled 74 consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke, evaluated and treated in a 3- to 6-hour window after symptom o…