Diffusion tensor imaging combined with fractional anisotropy measurement for the diagnosis of cerebral infarction

Objective In recent years,diffusion tensor imaging(DTI) has been widely applied as a non-invasive method to the evaluation of the structure of brain white matter fibers.This study aimed to analyze the characteristics of magnetic resonance DTI and explore the values of DTI in the diagnosis of cerebral infarction.Methods Thirty-six patients with acute cerebral infarction were classified into three groups according to the disease course: hyperacute(6 h,n=7),acute(6-72 h,n=21),and subacute(3-14 d,n=8).Conventional MRI and DTI were performed using GE 1.5T to measure the values of fractional anisotropy(FA) in the infarcted region and corresponding contralateral area.Visualization of the fibertract was achieved by postprocessing the acquired DTI data.Results The FA values of the infarcted region and corresponding contralateral area were 0.454±0.073 and 0.479±0.050 in the hyperacute stage(P0.05),0.353±0.070 and 0.490±0.039 in the acute stage(P0.01),and 0.301±0.061 and 0.475±0.041(P0.01) in the subacute stage.FA decreased gradually with the progression of the disease.Among the 36 patients,there were 3 cases of complete corticospinal tract(CST),12 cases of compressed and shifted CST,and 21 cases of broken CST.The severity of CST involvement was positively correlated with the degree of muscle weakness(rs=0.893,P0.01).Conclusion DTI combined with FA measurement can precisely stage and localize cerebral infarction,and plays an important role in evaluating the prognosis of the disease and guiding the rehabilitation of the patient.