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Brain diffusivity in patients with neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus with new acute neurological symptoms
Author(s) -
Welsh Robert C.,
Rahbar Habib,
Foerster Bradley,
Thurnher Majda,
Sundgren Pia C.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.21036
Subject(s) - medicine , white matter , effective diffusion coefficient , parenchyma , diffusion mri , pathology , nuclear medicine , diffusion imaging , magnetic resonance imaging , gastroenterology , radiology
Purpose To investigate the source of significant difference in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) between patients with acute symptoms of neuropsychiatric (NP) systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (NPSLE) and normal controls. Materials and Methods Diffusion‐weighted echo‐planar imaging was performed on 1.5‐T scanners in 17 female and four male NPSLE patients with acute neurological symptoms (23–76 years, mean = 42.7 years), and in 21 aged‐matched healthy controls (16 female, five male, 26–63 years, mean = 41.1 years). ADC histograms were calculated for whole brain, gray matter tissue, and white matter tissue. Results Of the 17 NPSLE patients, 13 (72%) had abnormal findings on MR imaging. The NPSLE patients had a mean ADC value of (1105.1 ± 23.6) × 10 —6 mm 2 /second and the control had a mean ADC value of (1012.5 ± 9.4) × 10 −6 mm 2 /second ( P ≤ 0.0012). Significant differences were also found in white matter ( P ≤ 0.0020) and gray matter ( P ≤ 0.0022). Conclusion ADC histogram analysis demonstrated increased general diffusivity in the brain in NPSLE patients with acute symptoms compared with healthy normal controls. This finding suggests that in the brain parenchyma of NPSLE patients a loss of tissue integrity occurs facilitating motility of free‐water protons. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2007;26:541–551. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.