Efficacy of Diffusion-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Emergency Department to an Intracerebral Hemorrhage |
Jung Soo Park, Yeon Ho You, Sung Soo Park, Jung Kyu Park, Hun Kim, Sung Pil Chung, Seung Whan Kim, In Sool Yoo |
Department of Emergency Medicine, College of Medicine, Chungnam National University, Korea. emstar@naver.com |
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ABSTRACT |
PURPOSE: This study was designed to evaluate whether diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) showed characteristic features in patients with an intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), as well as a cerebral infarction, and whether the volume of hemorrhage was measured accurately on the DWI.
MATERIALS AND METHOD: Patients with an ICH who underwent DWI and computed tomography (CT) were enrolled in this study.
The DWI findings were categorized as follows: type A (lesions with a mixed-signal intense core), type B (lesions with a low-signal intense core), and type C (otherlesions).
The time interval between symptom onset and DWI was compared among types of DWI findings. We compared the volumes of the hematomas between CT and DWI.
RESULTS: Thirty-seven patients were classified as type A (27 cases), type B (9), and type C (1). The average time interval was significantly different between type A and type B (4.97 vs 41.89 hrs). The differences between the measured mean volumes of the hemorrhages between CT and DWI were not statistically different (12.7 vs 12.4 ml) CONCLUSION: This study suggested that DWI could differentiate ICH from ischemic stroke and could accurately measure the hemorrhagic volume, as well. Thus, it can be used as a primary diagnostic tool of stroke in the emergency department. |
Key words:
Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging, Intracranial hemorrhage, Cerebral infarction |
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