Objective To investigate the role of imaging characteristics of cerebral infarction in different regions in predicting the progressive cerebral infarction (PCI). Methods Patients with cerebral infarction were selected in the De?partment of Neurology of Hefei third People’s Hospital from January 2010 to June 2014. Brain MRI were examined the location of cerebral infarction. Patients were then classified into four groups accordingly:cortical infarction, basal gangli?on infarction, coronaradiata infarction and posterior infarction. Patients were further divided into PCI group and non-PCI group according to their clinical manifestations. MRI imaging features and risk factors were analyzed and compared be?tween PCI group and non-PCI group. Results A total of 150 patients with cerebral infarction were enrolled, including 99 cases of non-PCI and 51 cases of PCI. According to the Brain imaging classification, there were 46 cases of cortical in?farction, 25 cases of coronaradiata infarction, 47 cases of basal ganglion infarction and 32 cases of posterior infarction. There were significant differences in subtype cerebral infarction between PCI group and non-PCI group(χ2=19.239,P=
0.001). The percent of cortical infarction were significantly higher in PCI group compared to the non-PCI group. Cortical infarction was correlated to PCI and the value of R and P was 0.170 and 0.026, respectively. Logistic regression revealed that Imaging of subtypes of cerebral infarction was correlative with PCI (P=0.002). The frequency of progression was sig?nificantly increased in cortical infarction than in other subtypes of cerebral infarction (P=0.002). The trend was still sig?nificant even after adjustment for age and blood glucose, (P=0.014). Conclusion The location of cerebral infarction is closely correlated to PCI in which cortical infarction is more likely to develop PCI.