Accuracy of Diffusion-Weighted Imaging in the Diagnosis of Stroke in Patients With Suspected Cerebral Infarct
Journal
Stroke
ISSN
0039-2499
1524-4628
Date Issued
2013
Author(s)
Sergio Illanes
Daniel Cárcamo
Marcela Valenzuela
Type
Resource Types::text::journal::journal article
URL Institutional Repository
Abstract
<jats:sec>
<jats:title>Background and Purpose—</jats:title>
<jats:p>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.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
<jats:sec>
<jats:title>Methods—</jats:title>
<jats:p>DWI was performed in 712 patients with acute or subacute focal symptoms that suggested an acute ischemic stroke (AIS), 609 of them with AIS.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
<jats:sec>
<jats:title>Results—</jats:title>
<jats:p>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.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
<jats:sec>
<jats:title>Conclusions—</jats:title>
<jats:p>DWI is accurate in detecting AIS in unselected patients with suspected AIS; a negative study should alert for nonischemic conditions.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
<jats:title>Background and Purpose—</jats:title>
<jats:p>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.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
<jats:sec>
<jats:title>Methods—</jats:title>
<jats:p>DWI was performed in 712 patients with acute or subacute focal symptoms that suggested an acute ischemic stroke (AIS), 609 of them with AIS.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
<jats:sec>
<jats:title>Results—</jats:title>
<jats:p>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.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
<jats:sec>
<jats:title>Conclusions—</jats:title>
<jats:p>DWI is accurate in detecting AIS in unselected patients with suspected AIS; a negative study should alert for nonischemic conditions.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
Subjects
diagnosis
;
diffusion-weighted imaging
;
stroke