MR diffusion tensor imaging of white matter tract disruption in stroke at 3 T.
Recent advances in MR diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) enable the identification of anisotropic white matter tracts with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). We aimed to use a novel DTI technique to safely study patients with recent stroke in a high field (3 T) MR machine with its intrinsically higher spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. Of ten patients studied, six had disruption of white matter tracts as determined by DTI. A further patient had distortion of white matter tracts around an infarct rather than actual disruption of the tracts themselves. The lack of tract destruction may imply a beneficial prognosis, information that is not available with conventional DWI.
Gillard
J H
JH
Department of Radiology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK.
Papadakis
N G
NG
Martin
K
K
Price
C J
CJ
Warburton
E A
EA
Antoun
N M
NM
Huang
C L
CL
Carpenter
T A
TA
Pickard
J D
JD
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis*