Diagnosis of acute brain-stem infarcts using diffusion-weighed MRI.
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.
Toi
H
H
Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, The University of Tokushima, 3-18-15 Kuramotocho, Tokushima, Japan 770-8503.
Uno
M
M
Harada
M
M
Yoneda
K
K
Morita
N
N
Matsubara
S
S
Satoh
K
K
Nagahiro
S
S
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