Preliminary observations of increased diffusional kurtosis in human brain following recent cerebral infarction

By application of the MRI method of diffusional kurtosis imaging, a substantially increased diffusional kurtosis was observed within the cerebral ischemic lesions of three stroke subjects, 13–26 h following the onset of symptoms. This increase is interpreted as probably reflecting a higher degree of diffusional heterogeneity in the lesions when compared with normal‐appearing contralateral tissue. In addition, for two of the subjects with white matter infarcts, the increase had a strong fiber tract orientational dependence. It is proposed that this effect is consistent with a large drop in the intra‐axonal diffusivity, possibly related to either axonal varicosities or alterations associated with the endoplasmic reticulum. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.