Comparison of Outcomes of Ischemic Stroke Initially Imaged With Cranial Computed Tomography Alone vs Computed Tomography Plus Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Importance: Patients with acute ischemic stroke often undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in addition to computed tomography (CT), but its association with clinical outcomes is uncertain.

Objective: To assess whether clinical outcomes of patients with acute ischemic stroke with initial CT alone were noninferior to those with additional MRI.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A retrospective observational propensity score-matched cohort study of clinical outcomes at discharge and 1 year for patients hospitalized with acute ischemic stroke was conducted at an academic medical center between January 2015 and December 2017.