title: [Application of diffusion-weighted echo planar imaging for diagnosis of small acute and subacute brain ischemic lesions].
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the utility of diffusion-weighted echo planar imaging (DW-EPI) for detecting acute and subacute brain ischemic foci less than 2 cm in size. Thirty patients underwent DW-EPI on a 1.5 T superconducting unit using a SE-EPI sequence with an arbitrary pair of Stejskal-Tanner gradients applied along the imaging axes. DW-EPI demonstrated all the mast recent ischemic lesions as areas of decreased diffusion, providing greater conspicuity and larger size than conventional spin-echo imaging. DW-EPI is a promising method to detect within a subsecond early ischemia and reversible ischemic changes that are not demonstrate on routine spin-echo images.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Saitama Medical School.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Enomoto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watabe
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amanuma
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heshiki
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged