Lesions masquerading as acute stroke

Rapid and accurate recognition of lesions masquerading as acute stroke is important. Any incorrect or delayed diagnosis of stroke mimics will not only increase the risk of being exposed to unnecessary and possibly dangerous interventional therapies, but will also delay proper treatment. In this article, written from a neuroradiologist's perspective, we classified these lesions masquerading as acute stroke into three groups: lesions that may have “normal imaging,” lesions that are “symptom mimics” but on imaging clearly not a stroke, and lesions that are “symptom and imaging mimics” with imaging findings similar to stroke. We focused the review on neuroimaging findings of the latter two groups ending with a suggestion for a diagnostic approach in the form of an algorithm. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2013;37:15–34. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.