Abstract
Background: It is crucial for clinicians to distinguish between brain infections and brain tumours because their treatment plans and prognoses are radically different (abscesses from necrotic or cystic brain tumours and encephalitis from diffuse gliomas, for example). Sadly, radiologists and neurologists alike still have a difficult time diagnosing this distinction.
Aims & objectives: We sought to investigate the role of diffusion-weighted MRI in the assessment of intracranial lesions in the current study.
Material and Methods: The current study was a descriptive analysis of patients referred for diffusion weighted MRI scans of the brain who were found to have any of the following conditions: infarction, infectious lesions, tumours, or demyelination degenerative illnesses.
Results: During the study period, 200 patients had DW MRI; the age range with the highest frequency was 51–60 years (36%), followed by 41–50 years (29%). Male patients (67%) outnumbered female patients (33%). 48 percent of patients had infarcts, of which 50 had acute infarcts, 20 had chronic infarcts, and 6 had subacute infarcts. Other were cancers (32%), and there were 30 intra-axial tumours, including 10 GBMs, 4 Low Grade Gliomas, 6 Medulloblastomas, 6 Lymphomas, 2 Anaplastic Astrocytomas, and 1 Hemangioblastoma (2). There were 34 extra-axial tumours, including 20 meningiomas, 8 arachnoid cysts, and 1 pituitary macroadenoma (6). Abscesses (4%), NCC granulomas (3%), and tubercular granulomas (14%) made up 24% of the infected individuals. 3 percent of encephalitis cases had infectious causes. All of the 3% who had demyelination had MS. True diffusion restriction was the most frequent finding on DW MRI, with hyperintensity on T2W images and hypointensity on ADC images noted in 110 patients.
Conclusion: When available, diffuse-weighted imaging should be used regularly as a valuable noninvasive alternative to conventional MRI to arrive at a final diagnosis that cannot be disputed.
Keywords: diffusion-weighted MRI, infarct, ADC, True diffusion restriction