ADC values and diffusion weighted imaging can be used to detect early cerebral infarction

Supratentorial cerebral infarction can cause functional inhibition of remote regions such as the cerebellum, which may be relevant to diaschisis. This phenomenon is often analyzed using positron emission tomography and single photon emission CT. However, these methods are expensive and radioactive.

Dr. Yunjun Yang and colleagues from First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University in China quantified the changes of infarction core and remote regions after unilateral middle cerebral artery occlusion using apparent diffusion coefficient values and found that apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values at remote regions (cerebellum) varied along with the change of supratentorial infarction core, suggesting that the phenomenon of diaschisis existed at the remote regions. Thus, apparent diffusion coefficient values and diffusion weighted imaging can be used to detect early cerebral infarction. These findings were published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No. 31, 2013).

Article: " Apparent diffusion coefficient evaluation for secondary changes in the cerebellum of rats after middle cerebral artery occlusion," by Yunjun Yang1, Lingyun Gao2, Jun Fu2, Jun Zhang1, Yuxin Li1, Bo Yin1, Weijian Chen2, Daoying Geng1 (1 Department of Radiology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China; 2 Department of Radiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325000, Zhejiang Province, China)

Yang YJ, Gao LY, Fu J, Zhang J, Li YX, Yin B, Chen WJ, Geng DY. Apparent diffusion coefficient evaluation for secondary changes in the cerebellum of rats after middle cerebral artery occlusion. Neural Regen Res. 2013;8(31):2942-2950.