showed a trendp = 0.076
However, after adjusting for age, initial NIHSS correlated positively with the FLT‐binding ratio ( r = 0.61, p = 0.035) and early NIHSS decline showed a trend toward positive correlation with the FLT‐binding ratio ( p = 0.076); after additional adjustment for infarct volume, the significance was lost, but there was still a trend toward positive correlation between early NIHSS decline and FLT‐binding ratio ( p = 0.147).