DIFFUSION WEIGHTED MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING OF THE BRAIN IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE

Abstract

Objectives. To the best of our knowledge, no research study has been performed yet to examine the efficacy of diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) in defining white matter changes in the patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). By this way, the aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of DWI in defining white matter changes in the patients with COPD. Materials and Methods. The study comprised 30 male patients, aged 45-70 years, with moderate level COPD and an aged matched group of 30 healthy males as control group. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were investigated with diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Data normal distribution conformity was evaluated by the One Sample Kolmogorov Smirnov Test and homogeneity by the One-Way ANOVA test. For both the COPD and control group, data were obtained as mean, standard deviations. Independent sample t-test was used for the comparison of means between the two groups. Results. In the current study, the ADC values in the deep white matters of all brain lobes of patients with COPD found to be significantly higher than the control group. DWI had high sensitivity and specificity in defining frontal and temporal white matter changes. However, it had the relatively low sensitivity and specificity in detecting parietal and occipital white matter changes. Conclusions. We think that DWI can be used to evaluate the damage of cerebral deep white matter of patients with COPD.