Assessment of severity of leukoaraiosis: a diffusional kurtosis imaging study.
OBJECTIVE
The objective was to investigate the capabilities of diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) in detection of age-related white matter (WM) changes in elderly patients with leukoaraiosis.


METHODS
Fractional anisotropy (FA), kurtosis, and diffusion parameters in the frontal lobe and parietal lobe were compared between 14 patients at Fazekas scale 0 and 1, and 15 patients at Fazekas scale 2 and 3.


RESULTS
FA and DKI parameters were significantly altered in the ischemic lesions vs normal regions of WM in the severe patients.


CONCLUSIONS
DKI can provide sensitive imaging biomarkers for assessing the severity of leukoaraiosis in reference to Fazekas score.
Department of Radiology, Quanzhou First Hospital Affiliated to Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, Fujian 362000, China.
Shuhui
S
Xu
Department of Radiology, Quanzhou First Hospital Affiliated to Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, Fujian 362000, China.
Deqiu
D
Ye
Department of Radiology, Quanzhou First Hospital Affiliated to Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, Fujian 362000, China.
Tao
T
Lian
Department of Radiology, Shishi City Hospital, Quanzhou, Fujian 362700, China.
Jianzhong
J
Cai
Department of Radiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350005, China.
Zebin
Z
Xiao
Department of Radiology, Quanzhou First Hospital Affiliated to Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, Fujian 362000, China.
Yongchu
Y
Huang
Department of Radiology, Quanzhou First Hospital Affiliated to Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, Fujian 362000, China. Electronic address: 2310611338@qq.com.
Xiangrong
X
Chen
GE Healthcare China, Guangzhou 510623, China.
Zhongping
Z
Zhang
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016880:Anisotropy; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D049292:Leukoaraiosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D066127:White Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*
DKI; Diffusion; Kurtosis; Leukoaraiosis; Non-Gaussians