BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The accuracy of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for the diagnosis of acute cerebral ischemia among patients with suspected ischemic stroke arriving to an emergency room has not been studied in depth. METHODS: DWI was performed in 712 patients with acute or subacute focal symptoms that suggested an acute ischemic stroke (AIS), 609 of them with AIS. RESULTS: DWI demonstrated a sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 97%, a positive likelihood ratio of 31 and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.1 for detecting AIS. The overall accuracy was 95%. Of those patients who demonstrated abnormal DWI studies, 99.5% were AIS patients, and of those patients with normal DWI studies 63% were stroke mimics. CONCLUSIONS: DWI is accurate in detecting AIS in unselected patients with suspected AIS; a negative study should alert for nonischemic conditions.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The accuracy of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for the diagnosis of acute cerebral ischemia among patients with suspected ischemic stroke arriving to an emergency room has not been studied in depth. METHODS: DWI was performed in 712 patients with acute or subacute focal symptoms that suggested an acute ischemic stroke (AIS), 609 of them with AIS. RESULTS: DWI demonstrated a sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 97%, a positive likelihood ratio of 31 and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.1 for detecting AIS. The overall accuracy was 95%. Of those patients who demonstrated abnormal DWI studies, 99.5% were AIS patients, and of those patients with normal DWI studies 63% were stroke mimics. CONCLUSIONS: DWI is accurate in detecting AIS in unselected patients with suspected AIS; a negative study should alert for nonischemic conditions.
Authors: Gil-Sun Hong; Choong Wook Lee; Mi-Hyun Kim; Seung Won Jang; Sae Rom Chung; Ga Young Yoon; Jeong Kon Kim Journal: Eur Radiol Date: 2016-05-10 Impact factor: 5.315
Authors: Alejandro M Brunser; Gabriel Cavada; Paula Muñoz Venturelli; Verónica Olavarría; Alexis Rojo; Juan Almeida; Violeta Díaz; Arnold Hoppe; Pablo Lavados Journal: Neuroradiology Date: 2018-05-22 Impact factor: 2.804
Authors: Anne L Abbott; Mauro Silvestrini; Raffi Topakian; Jonathan Golledge; Alejandro M Brunser; Gert J de Borst; Robert E Harbaugh; Fergus N Doubal; Tatjana Rundek; Ankur Thapar; Alun H Davies; Anthony Kam; Joanna M Wardlaw Journal: Front Neurol Date: 2017-10-18 Impact factor: 4.003