title: Diagnosis of acute brain-stem infarcts using diffusion-weighed MRI.
abstract: There are many reports on acute cerebral infarcts diagnosed by diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI), but few describe brain-stem infarcts diagnosed by this method. Using the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), we studied 18 consecutive patients with brain-stem infarcts who underwent DWI during the acute phase. We calculated and compared the ADC ratio (lesion ADC/contralateral ADC) in 10 patients with brain-stem and 23 with supratentorial cortical infarcts examined within 24 h of the onset of stroke. Ischaemic brain-stem lesions were detected in all 15 patients who underwent DWI more than 3 h after the onset, but not in two who had DWI within 3 h of the onset; their ADC ratio was more than 0.95. ADC ratios in patients with brain-stem infarcts decreased as the interval between onset and DWI increased; the decrease was slower than in patients with supratentorial cortical infarcts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, The University of Tokushima, 3-18-15 Kuramotocho, Tokushima, Japan 770-8503.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Toi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uno
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoneda
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsubara
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Satoh
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nagahiro
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D020526:Brain Stem Infarctions / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013997:Time Factors; D014715:Vertebrobasilar Insufficiency / Q000175:diagnosis