Temporal evolution of ischemic injury evaluated with diffusion-, perfusion-, and T2-weighted MRI

Objective: Ischemic lesions seen on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) are re versible if reperfusion is performed within minutes after the onset of isch emia. This study was designed to determine whether acute reversibility of D WI abnormalities is transient following brief temporary focal brain ischemi a and to characterize the temporal evolution of in vivo ischemic lesions. M et hods: Eight rats were subjected to 30 minutes of temporary middle cerebr al artery occlusion and underwent diffusion-, perfusion-, and T2-weighted M RI during occlusion; immediately after reperfusion; 30, 60, and 90 minutes after reperfusion; and 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours after reperfusion. Average apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC(av)) values and the cerebral blood flow index (CBFi) ratio were calculated in both the lateral caudoputamen and ov erlying cortex at each time point. The size of the in vivo ischemic abnorma lities was calculated from the ADC(av) and the T2 maps. Postmortem tripheny ltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining was used to verify ischemic injury. Re sults: Both the CBFi ratio and ADC(av) values declined significantly in the two regions during occlusion. The CBFi ratio recovered immediately after r eperfusion and remained unchanged over 72 hours. However, ADC(av) values re turned to normal at 60 to 90 minutes and secondarily decreased at 12 hours after reperfusion as compared with those in the contralateral hemisphere. T he extent of the in vivo ischemic lesions maximized at 48 hours and was hig hly correlated with TTC-derived lesion size. Conclusions: Acute recovery of initial ADC(av)-defined lesions after reperfusion is transient, and second ary ADC(av)-defined lesions develop in a slow and delayed fashion.