Objective To explore the correlations of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) types and the degree of neurologic impairment in acute ischemic stroke patients with atrial fibrillation.Methods DWI images and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale(NIHSS) of 186 patients with acute ischemic stroke patients with atrial fibrillation were collected retrospectively.The correlation of DWI features and NIHSS was analyzed.Results On DWI,all acute ischemic stroke patients with atrial fibrillation presented high signal intensity.Single cortex-subcortical infarction mostly appeared in the anterior circulation(94,50.5%);Multi-infarction commonly occurred in the posterior circulation(18,13.0%);The neurological deficit scores of subcortical-cortex infarction in the left anterior circulation(16.75±7.10) were higher than that in the right side(13.50±5.70)(P<0.05).The neurological deficit scores of cortex-subcortical infarction in the posterior circulation (6.38±2.03) were significantly lower than that in the multi-infarction (16.77±8.90) (P<0.05).Conclusion DWI types are valuable for etiological diagnosis in ischemic stroke.Combination with NIHSS score could provide a basis for clinical individual treatment programs selection and prognostic evaluation.