Diffusion Weighted Imaging Findings in the Acute Lateral Medullary Infarction.
- Author:
Min Jung SEO
1
;
Sook Young ROH
;
Yu Suck KYUN
;
Hyun Jung YU
;
Young Kuk CHO
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords: Lateral medullary infarction; False-negative DWI; Time-to-MRI
- MeSH: Brain Stem Infarctions; Diagnosis; Diffusion*; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Infarction*; Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- From:Journal of Clinical Neurology 2006;2(2):107-112
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Negative findings on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) does not exclude the possibility of brainstem infarction, particularly in the acute stage of medullary lesion. Our aim was to investigate the false-negative rate of DWI in patients with acute lateral medullary infarction. METHODS: We applied DWI to 26 patients with a clinical diagnosis of lateral medullary infarction within 72 h of the onset. We assessed relationships between initial DWI findings and time-to-MRI (the time between onset of symptoms and initial DWI), number of clinical symptoms and signs, and final lesion volume. RESULTS: There were 8 cases (31%) of false negatives in the initial DWI results. The occurrence of false-negative DWI findings decreased significantly as the time-to-MRI increased (P=0.014). However, the false-negative rate was not significantly correlated with the number of clinical symptoms and signs or the final lesion volume. CONCLUSIONS: The diagnosis of lateral medullary infarction should not be ruled out on the basis of early negative DWI. To confirm the lesion, follow-up DWI or further MRI should be performed in cases with early negative DWI results
