Value of DWI and SWI in the diagnosis of diffuse axonal injury

Objective To investigate the value of diffusion weighted imaging(DWI) and susceptibility weighted imaging(SWI) in the diagnosis of diffuse axonal injury(DAI).Methods MRI data of 17 cases with acute diffuse axonal injury proved by clinical manifestation and imaging were retrospectively analyzed.MRI data included T1WI,T2WI,fluid attenuated inversion recovery(FLAIR),DWI and SWI sequences.The detected number of lesions was compared among the different sequences.The characteristics of signal and distribution of lesions were analyzed.Results DAI lesions located in the white matter,junctional zone of cortex and medulla,basal ganglia,corpus callosum,brain stem and cerebellum.The detected number of non-hemorrhagic lesion on DWI was the highest and significantly higher than that on other sequences(P0.05).The detected number of hemorrhagic lesion on SWI was the highest and significantly higher than that on other sequences(P0.05).Conclusion Combination of DWI and SWI can improve detection ratio of DAI lesions,providing more image evidence for early clinical diagnosis,so DWI and SWI should be the first and routine sequence in the MRI examination of DAI detection.