In the paper by Bang et al in this issue (see pages 1222–8), the authors deal with the possibility of predicting clinical outcome in stroke patients by considering the diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) lesion patterns. This is a new approach to MRI findings which gives more emphasis to the location of DWI alterations than to their volume or number.

Although thrombolysis is the most effective treatment for acute stroke, it is still limited to a few patients because of its strict temporal therapeutic window. It follows …