BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Only a small percentage of stroke patients are treated with thrombolytic therapy. We sought to determine whether vessel occlusion in mild strokes represented a new target population for interventional therapy. METHODS: We imaged 106 acute stroke patients with MRI. Patients were identified with evidence of middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion and mild or no stroke signs (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS] 3, and MCA occlusion. RESULTS: We identified 5 patients with absent flow on MRA in the MCA and mild or no stroke signs (NIHSS