DWI abnormalities and clinical characteristics in TIA patients

To determine the clinical characteristics of diffusion-weighted images (DWIs) in patients with TIA.

The authors performed prospectively MRI including DWI in 129 consecutively studied patients with TIA (mean age, 67 years; 68% men) within 14 days after TIA onset. They examined the frequency of TIA-related DWI abnormalities and compared the clinical background of patients with and without DWI abnormalities. Using multivariate statistical methods, the authors investigated the independent factors associated with detection of DWI abnormalities.

Fifty-seven patients with TIA (44%) had DWI abnormalities (positive group), whereas 72 (56%) had no abnormalities (negative group). Prolonged TIA duration (TIA duration > or = 30 minutes), hemiparesis, monoparesis, disturbance of higher brain function, history of either stroke or TIA, diabetes mellitus, and atrial fibrillation were observed more frequently in the positive group than in the negative group. No difference in other symptoms, vascular risk factors, or emboligenic cardiac and arterial disease was observed between the two groups. A multiple logistic regression model demonstrated that prolonged TIA duration (odds ratio [OR], 3.7; 95% CI, 1.3 to 10.8) and disturbance of higher brain function (OR, 10.2; 95% CI, 2.2 to 46.9) are significant and independent factors in correlating with DWI abnormalities.

TIA-related DWI abnormalities are associated with prolonged duration of TIA and disturbance of higher brain function. More sustained and extensive ischemia may contribute to DWI abnormalities in patients with TIA.