ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the application value in distinguishing the postoperative intracranial abscess from the spontaneous intracranial abscess using diffusion-weighted imaging(DWI).Methods Total of 73 patients with intracranial abscess,including 30 patients with spontaneous intracranial abscess and 43 patients with postoperative intracranial abscess underwent DWI scan.The clinical data and apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC)values were analysed using Mann-Whitney and χ2tests between the two groups,and χ2automatic interaction detection analysis was used to classify the ADC values into categories in each group.Results The ADC value of the postoperative intracranial abscess(median,1.34 ×10 -3mm2/s;interquartile range,1.00-1.62×10 -3mm2/s)was significant higher than that of the spontaneous intracranial abscesses (median,0.68×10-3mm2/s;interquartile range,0.58-0.79 ×10-3mm2/s;P<0.001).Theχ2 automatic interation detection analysis showed that 24 patients (80%)were found to be spontaneous abscess with ADC values less than 0.79×10-3mm2/s,the other 6 patients (20%)were found to be spontaneous abscess with ADC values between 0.79 and 1.33× 10-3mm2/s,and no patietns were found bo be spontaneous abscess with ADC values greater than 1.33×10-3mm2/s(P<0.001). Conclusion DWI has certain application value in distinguishing the postoperative intracranial abscess from the spontaneous intracranial abscess.