RESUMEN
Objective To investigate the value of diffusion weighted imaging(DWI)in predicting delayed encephalopathy of the rabbits brain after carbon monoxide(CO)poisoning.Methods Sixty healthy rabbits were put into self-made poisoning cabinet and were poisoned by inhalation of CO.Aeration of CO was stopped when the rabbits became comatous,and the cabinet was kept airpoof for 6 h.The rabbits underwent MRI before poisoning,at 1 h,3 d,5 d,7 d,15 d,30 d,45 d,and 60 d after poisoning respectively. Axial and sagittal T_2WI,axial T_1WI and DWI were performed.In the rabbits that did not show symptoms of delayed encephalopathy,the observation was discontinued on the 60~(th)day.In the rabbit that showed the symptoms,the observation was discontinued on the 30~(th)——45~(th)day.The changing pattern of cortical ADC values before and after CO poisoning was observed and its relationship with delayed encephalopathy was investigated.Results In the group without delayed encephalopathy(15 rabbits),the ADC value at 1 h after poisoning[(7.58?0.36)?10~(-4)mm~2/s]decreased significantly compared with the pre-poisoning value[(8.02?0.35)?10~(-4)mm~2/s](q=0.4441,P0.05).In the group with delayed encephalopathy(15 rabbits),the ADC value at 1 h after poisoning [(7.40?0.32)?10~(-4)mm~2/s]decreased significantly compared with the pre-poisoning value[(8.08? 0.32)?10~(-4)mm~2/s](q=0.6728,P