Dogs and cats with presumed or confirmed intracranial abscessation have low apparent diffusion coefficient values

Intracranial abscessation is a life-threatening condition in dogs and cats, and rapid diagnosis is important for prognosis and treatment planning. The aims of this retrospective, single-center, case series study were to describe clinical and MRI diffusion-weighted imaging characteristics in three dogs and three cats with presumed or confirmed intracranial abscessation. All lesions appeared hyperintense on b1000 trace diffusion-weighted images, hypointense on apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map, with mean ADC values ranging from 0.37 to 1.24 × 10^-3  mm² /s. The majority (5/6) of the obtained mean ADC values were low (<1.10 × 10^-3  mm² /s), as previously reported in the human literature.