Preliminary observations of increased diffusional kurtosis in human brain following recent cerebral infarction

✍ Scribed by Jens H. Jensen; Maria F. Falangola; Caixia Hu; Ali Tabesh; Otto Rapalino; Calvin Lo; Joseph A. Helpern

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 512 KB
• Volume: 24
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0952-3480
• DOI: 10.1002/nbm.1610

✦ Synopsis

By application of the MRI method of diffusional kurtosis imaging, a substantially increased diffusional kurtosis was observed within the cerebral ischemic lesions of three stroke subjects, 13-26 h following the onset of symptoms. This increase is interpreted as probably reflecting a higher degree of diffusional heterogeneity in the lesions when compared with normal-appearing contralateral tissue. In addition, for two of the subjects with white matter infarcts, the increase had a strong fiber tract orientational dependence. It is proposed that this effect is consistent with a large drop in the intra-axonal diffusivity, possibly related to either axonal varicosities or alterations associated with the endoplasmic reticulum.