Objective: From the study of MRI in the prognosis of cerebral interfraction in recent years, and discuss the value of different MRI methods in estimating the final outcome of patients with cerebral infraction. Data sources: An online search of Medline database was undertaken to identify the relevant articles published, in English from January 1985 to April 2004 with keywords of "MRI, cerebral infraction, prognosis". Meanwhile, Chinese articles related to the clinical prognosis of cerebral infarction evaluated by MRI at early period were retrieved in Wanfang database published between January 1985 and April 2004 by using the same keywords in Chinese. Study selection: The retrieved 132 articles were screened, and the randomized clinical trials with reliable successive observational results and prognostic scores were selected, and the reviews were excluded. Data extraction: The screened articles were classified according to different MRI rank, the articles with the same content were excluded, and there were 27 articles about the correlation between MRI and the clinical prognosis of cerebral infraction. Data synthesis: More than 650 patients were involved in the 27 articles, which evaluated the clinical prognosis of patients with cerebral infraction in the neurological department with MRI at early period. The MRI pulse rank used for cerebral infarction included fast spin echo T2 weighted image (T2WI), fluid-attenuated inversion recovery free water suppression, diffusion weighted image, perfusion weighted image, magnetic resonance spectrum, magnetic resonance angiography and blood oxygenation level-dependent image. Conclusion: Synthetically application of different MRI techniques could provide relatively confirmed prognosis for patients with cerebral infraction.