title: Dynamic tracking of acute ischemic tissue fates using improved unsupervised ISODATA analysis of high-resolution quantitative perfusion and diffusion data.
abstract: High-resolution (200 x 200 x 1,500 microm3) imaging was performed to derive quantitative cerebral blood flow (CBF) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps in stroke rats (permanent occlusion) every 30 minutes up to 3 hours after occlusion onset, followed by histology at 24 hours. An improved automated iterative-self-organizing-data-analysis-algorithm (ISODATA) was developed to dynamically track ischemic tissue fate on a pixel-by-pixel basis during the acute phase. ISODATA-resolved clusters were overlaid on the CBF-ADC scatterplots and image spaces. Tissue volume ADC, and CBF of each ISODATA cluster were derived. In contrast to the single-cluster normal left hemisphere (ADC = 0.74 +/- 0.02 x 10(-3) mm2/s, CBF = 1.36 +/- 0.22 mL g(-1)min(-1), mean +/- SD, n = 8), the right ischemic hemisphere exhibited three ISODATA clusters, namely: "normal" (normal ADC and CBF), "ischemic core" (low CBF and ADC), and at-risk "perfusion-diffusion mismatch" (low CBF but normal ADC). At 180 minutes, the mismatch disappeared in five rats (Group I, 180-minute "core" lesion volume = 255 +/- 62 mm3 and 24-hour infarct volume = 253 +/- 55 mm3, P > 0.05), while a substantial mismatch persisted in three rats (Group II, 180-minute CBF-abnormal volume = 198 +/- 7 mm3 and 24-hour infarct volume 148 +/- 18 mm3, P < 0.05). The CBF (0.3 +/- 0.09 mL g(-1)min(-1)) of the "persistent mismatch" (Group II, 0.3 +/- 0.09 mL g(-1)min(-1)) was above the CBF viability threshold (0.2 to 0.3 mL g(-1)min(-1)) throughout and its ADC (0.70 +/- 0.03 x 10(-3) mm2/s) did not decrease as ischemia progressed. In contrast, the CBF (0.08 +/- 0.03 mL g(-1)min(-1)) of the analogous brain region in Group I was below the CBF viability threshold, and its ADC gradually decreased from 0.63 +/- 0.05 to 0.43 +/- 0.03 x 10(-3) mm2/s (ADC viability threshold = 0.53 +/- 0.02 x 10(-3) mm2/s). The modified ISODATA analysis of the ADC and CBF tissue characteristics during the acute phase could provide a useful and unbiased means to characterize and predict tissue fates in ischemic brain injury and to monitor therapeutic intervention.
authors.affiliation: Center for Comparative NeuroImaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, Massachusetts 01655, USA.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Hongxia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bouley
authors.forename: Timothy Q
authors.initials: TQ
authors.lastname: Duong
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley