title: Conspicuity of diffuse axonal injury lesions on diffusion-weighted MR imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  (1) To detect diffuse axonal injury (DAI) lesions by diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), as compared with fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) imaging and (2) to evaluate hemorrhagic DAI lesions by b0 images obtained from DWI, as compared with gradient-echo (GRE) imaging.
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed MR images of 36 patients with a diagnosis of DAI. MR imaging was performed 20 h to 14 days (mean, 3.7 days) after traumatic brain injury. We evaluated: (1) conspicuity of lesions on DWI and FLAIR and (2) conspicuity of hemorrhage in DAI lesions on b0 images and GRE imaging.
  
  
  RESULTS
  DWI clearly depicted high-signal DAI lesions. The sensitivity of DWI to lesional conspicuity in DAI lesions was almost equal to that of FLAIR. The sensitivity of b0 images to identification of hemorrhagic DAI lesions was inferior to that of GRE.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  DWI is as useful as FLAIR in detecting DAI lesions. GRE imaging is still the superior tool for the evaluation of hemorrhagic DAI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Division of Neuroradiology, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 648, Rochester, NY 14642, USA. kino@grape.med.tottori-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Toshibumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moritani
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hiwatashi
authors.forename: Henry Z
authors.initials: HZ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Shrier
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Numaguchi
authors.forename: Per-Lennart A
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Westesson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016477:Artifacts; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D020833:Diffuse Axonal Injury / Q000175:diagnosis*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity