title: Diffusion anisotropy measurements in ischaemic stroke of the human brain.
abstract: Magnetic resonance diffusion imaging was performed on 12 patients presenting with symptoms of acute ischaemic stroke (1-6 days post-ictus). Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and diffusion anisotropy measurements were obtained from ischaemic and contralateral normal regions. ADC measurements were decreased by around 40% in ischaemic regions, indicated by an average stroke to normal ratio of 0.56 +/- 0.04 (p < 0.0001). The measured anisotropy was shown to be significantly increased in ischaemic regions, using both standard deviation and volume ratio anisotropy indices, which gave stroke to normal ratios of 1.78 +/- 0.27 (p = 0.003) and 0.87 +/- 0.05 (p = 0.005) respectively. The effects of gradient interactions, image registration, noise contamination and rotational variance and their implications for the results obtained in this study are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, UK. paa@skull.dcn.ed.ac.uk
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Armitage
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Bastin
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wardlaw
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cannon
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016880:Anisotropy; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004058:Diffusion; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging