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(Stroke. 2002;33:1243.)
© 2002 American Heart Association, Inc.

Original Contributions

Regional Cerebral Blood Flow and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging Findings in Diaschisis From Stroke

Wen-Jang Chu, PhD; Graeme F. Mason, PhD; Jullie W. Pan, MD, PhD; Hoby P. Hetherington, PhD; Hong-Gang Liu, MS; Elmer C. San Pedro, MD James M. Mountz, MD, PhD

From the Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center, Birmingham, Ala (W.-J.C., H.-G.L., E.C.S.P., J.M.M); Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, New Haven, Conn (G.F.M); and Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience (J.W.P.) and Departments of Radiology and Physiology and Biophysics (H.P.H.), Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.

Correspondence to James M. Mountz, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiology, Division of Nuclear Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center, 619 South 19th St, Birmingham, AL 35233. E-mail jmmountz{at}uab.edu

Background and Purpose— This study evaluated blood flow and metabolite changes in cerebral diaschisis from internal capsule region infarction using regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and ¹H magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI). We hypothesized that complementary measures of diaschisis effects in white matter (characterized by ¹H MRSI) and gray matter (characterized by changes in rCBF) can be measured and exhibit parallel changes.

Methods— Five stroke patients and 16 normal controls underwent Tc-99m hexamethylpropyleneamine-oxime brain SPECT and ¹H MRSI at 4.1 T. The metabolites N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) and creatine (Cr) were measured using ¹H MRSI. The tissue content was expressed as the percent of gray or white matter in each MRSI voxel to allow comparison of the differential effects of diaschisis in gray and white matter tissue types. The blood flow and metabolite changes were evaluated at superior cerebral regions distant from the stroke to allow a measure of diaschisis relatively unconfounded by their expected changes in the infarction region.

Results— The rCBF SPECT data in stroke patients showed a perfusion defect, with size ranging from 1.23 cc to 10.23 cc, in the region of cortical diaschisis. ¹H MRSI showed increased Cr/NAA ratios in regions of white matter diaschisis. There was a tendency for larger rCBF defect size to be associated with greater increases in Cr/NAA values in the same diaschitic cerebral hemisphere, ipsilateral to the infarction.

Conclusion— Diaschisis ipsilateral to stroke in white matter can be characterized by ¹H MRSI, and diaschisis ipsilateral to stroke in cortical gray matter regions can be characterized by changes in rCBF. The tendency for greater reductions in cortical rCBF values to be associated with increased Cr/NAA values in the same diaschitic cerebral hemisphere implies that a relationship exists between rCBF reductions in gray matter and abnormal changes in white matter subservient to it.

Key Words: cerebral blood flow • diaschisis • magnetic resonance spectroscopy • stroke • tomography, emission computed

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