BRAIN PARENCHYMA APPARENT DIFFUSION-COEFFICIENT ALTERATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH EXPERIMENTAL COMPLEX PARTIAL STATUS EPILEPTICUS

The objective of this study was to evaluate whether water apparent dif fusion coefficient (ADC) measurements provide more specific informatio n than T-2-weighted MRI about the evolution of brain parenchyma lesion s secondary to prolonged complex partial seizures. We measured the ADC in the brain of rats exhibiting prolonged complex partial seizures in duced by intraperitoneal injection of kainic acid (KA). The animals we re imaged with diffusion and T-2-weighted MRI at 2 T from 3 h up to 9 days after KA injection. In the piriform cortex and amygdala, the T-2- weighted MRI signal intensity appeared to be uniformly increased from 24 to 72 h after KA injection, and returned to normal by 9 days. In th e same regions between 24 and 72 h, the ADC first decreased and then i ncreased, The ADC changes were consistent with the known histopatholog ic alterations. In this complex partial seizure model, the ADC measure ment provides more specific information than T-2-weighted MRI about th e histopathologic evolution of the lesions. This supports the proposal that diffusion MRI may be valuable for the evaluation of the neuropat hologic sequelae in patients with multiple or prolonged seizures.