Objective To analyze the application value of susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) in ischemic cerebrovascular diseases. Methods A total of 180 patients diagnosed with ischemic cerebrovascular diseases (cerebral infarction) in our hospital between January 2014 and May 2016 were studied. All patients underwent routine MRI and SWI examination. The detection of hemorrhagic transformation (HT) in patients with cerebral infarction was compared between different sequences. Results Among the 180 cases, there were 30 cases with HT, accounting for 16.67%, of which 25 cases were HI type and 5 cases were PH type. Conventional MRI detected HT in 18 cases, of which 14 cases were HI type, while SWI detected HT in 30 cases, of which 25 cases were HT type. The detection rate of SWI for HI was significantly higher than conventional MRI (P<0.05). The detection rates of SWI in patients with infarction complicated with acute phase, subacute phase, small infarction and large area cerebral infarction were significantly higher than those of conventional MRI (P<0.05). SWI showed 18 cases of small blood vessels around the infarction, while routine MRI examination showed none. Conclusion Compared with conventional MRI examination, SWI has obvious advantages in the detection of hemorrhagic transformation of cerebral infarction, and the detection time of secondary hemorrhage is earlier. It can also clearly show small blood vessels around the lesions.