The appearance of ADCs in the non-affected areas of the patients with MELAS.
BACKGROUND
The exact mechanism of the mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) remain unclear. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technique for studying the pathophysiologic change of the MELAS. The purpose of the study is to see whether the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of MELAS in the non-affected areas is different from the ADC of the normal subjects and to speculate the pathophysiological mechanisms of the MELAS.


METHODS
Sixteen cases of MELAS were retrospectively analyzed. Thirty healthy subjects were chosen to constitute the control group. All of them were performed on the 3.0T whole-body MR scanner with axial view T2 fluid attenuated inversion recovery (flair), T2-weighted imaging, T1flair, and DWI. An ADC map was reconstructed in the workstation. Two to five regions of interest were put in the non-affected frontal lobe and basal ganglia. All data took statistical analysis.


RESULTS
There were significant differences between the ADC of the patients with MELAS and the controls in the non-affected areas, including the superior frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus, corpus striatum, thalamus, and white matter of the semi-oval centrum.


CONCLUSIONS
ADCs in the non-affected areas of the patients with MELAS are higher than those of the normal subjects. Pathological changes take place in the non-affected areas of the patients with MELAS.
Liu
Zhenghua
Z
The Department of Radiology, Peking University First Hospital, Center for Functional Imaging, Peking University, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Liu
Xiwei
X
Hui
Lihong
L
Zhao
Danhua
D
Wang
Xiaoying
X
Xie
Sheng
S
Xiao
Jiangxi
J
Jiang
Xuexiang
X
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017241:MELAS Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult