2021 年 77 巻 10 号 p. 1203-1208
Background: The lesions caused by brainstem infarction are usually small. Therefore, it is often difficult to diagnose them using axial diffusion-weighted imaging (axial DWI). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of thin-slice gapless coronal DWI in acute brainstem infarction diagnosis by difference of elapsed time from the onset of cerebral infarction. Methods: Axial DWI and coronal DWI were performed in 90 patients (mean age: 70.0±12.5 years) with acute brainstem infarction. Patients were classified into four groups according to the elapsed time after the onset of brainstem infarction: <3 h (group A), 3–10 h (group B), 10–30 h (group C), and ≥30 h (group D). We compared axial DWI and coronal DWI in terms of visual evaluation score, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value, and contrast in the four groups. Results: The visual evaluation scores were significantly higher using coronal DWI in groups A, B, and C than in group D. The ADC values in groups C and D were significantly higher in coronal DWI. The contrast in groups C and D was significantly higher in coronal DWI. Conclusion: Coronal DWI is especially useful for acute brainstem infarction diagnosis within 30 hours of its onset.
