A new diffusion metric, diffusion kurtosis imaging, used in the serial examination of a patient with stroke

We report a case of a patient who developed a cerebral infarction, which was assessed using a new and advanced diffusion technique: diffusional kurtosis (DK) imaging. The signal changes on DK images were different from those on apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps, and they seem to be useful for the prediction of early-stage tissue infarction. Although diffusion-weighted imaging and its metric, the ADC, have been widely used in the evaluation of stroke, DK imaging will provide additional and useful information, including a more detailed evaluation of pathologic tissue changes. This information can be predictive of the prognosis.