Van Hedent S, et al. - Since conventional CTs are often unable to distinguish hemorrhage from iodine extravasation after reperfusion therapy for acute ischemic stroke, researchers investigated the potential of spectral CT detectors to distinguish such lesions. On conventional imaging, pure blood, blood-iodine mixtures (75/25, 50/50, and 25/75 ratios), and iodine solutions (0–14 mg I/mL) were scanned in a phantom with attenuation ranging from 12 to 75 HU. Conventional image attenuation did not differ significantly between all blood samples, while virtual noncontrast attenuation exhibited a significant decrease with a decreasing blood component in all blood iodine mixtures. Areas under the hemorrhage detection curve were 0.97, 0.87, 0.29 and 0.16 respectively for virtual noncontrast, relative virtual noncontrast, conventional CT attenuation and iodine quantification. In a phantom setting, spectral detector CT can precisely differentiate blood from iodinated contrast.