Clinical Characteristics Associated with Abnormal Diffusion-Weighted Images in Patients with Transient Cerebral Ischemic Attack

Background Precise associations between clinical characteristics of transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) positivity are still controversial. Thus, the purposes of this were to investigate the clinical characteristics associated with DWI positivity in patients with TIA and to develop a risk score for the prediction of DWI positivity in TIA. Methods Between April 2008 and June 2011, we retrospectively enrolled consecutive patients, who were admitted to our hospital with TIA and underwent DWI within 24 hours of admission. Patients were divided into a DWI-positive or DWI-negative group. The clinical characteristics of the 2 groups were compared, and a DWI positivity score was determined for each patient. We calculated the DWI positivity score by assigning a point value of 1 to the following factors: blood urea nitrogen to serum creatinine (BUN/Cr) ratio greater than 17.5, glucose greater than 161 mg/dL, and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) greater than 55.4 pg/dL. Values below these cutoffs were given a value of 0, and the 3 point values were summed to obtain the final DWI positivity score (from 0 to 3). Results A total of 41 patients (median age = 62 years; 8 women) were enrolled in this study. There were 14 (35%) patients with DWI positivity. The median of the BUN/Cr ratio, blood glucose, and BNP were significantly higher in the DWI-positive than that in the DWI-negative group. As the DWI positivity score increased, there was an increased rate of DWI positivity. Conclusions Our data indicate that seminal scores that included BUN/Cr ratio, glucose, and BNP contributed to DWI positivity in TIA patients.