Young Ro Kim1 and Jerrold L Boxerman2
1Radiology, MGH, Charlestown, MA, United States, 2Neuroradiology, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States
1Radiology, MGH, Charlestown, MA, United States, 2Neuroradiology, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States
The relative water exchange index (rWEI) method was developed and applied to the post-thrombectomy patients exhibiting no extravasation of Gd-DTPA. Whole brain mapping of rWEI took less than 10 min and identified regions with subtle impairment of the blood-brain barrier.
Figure 1. Representative MRI of thrombotic stroke patients who have undergone thrombectomy: despite the lack of Gd-DTPA extravasation, rWEI map identifies the areas with compromised BBB function.
Figure 2. Ratios of values from ROI’s between ipsi- and contra-hemisphere. Both WEI and rWEI are stable in non-infarct areas across hemispheres while both are elevated in infarct regions. The difference between WEI and rWEI ratios in infarct regions may be due to a nonlinear relationship between CBV and rCBV.