RESUMEN
Objective:To explore the value of magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in evaluating cerebrovascular small vessel disease (CSVD) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).Methods:Eighty-two patients with SLE combined with CSVD treated at Yixing People's Hospital from January to December 2022 were selected. They were divided into acute phase infarction group (16 cases), chronic phase infarction group (26 cases), and chronic ischemic lesion group (40 cases) based on routine MRI examination results. All patients underwent DTI examination to obtain the average diffusion coefficient (DCavg) and anisotropy score (FA) of the affected and contralateral normal white matter areas, and the evaluation value of DTI for CSVD in SLE patients was analyzed.Results:The DCavg value on the affected side of 82 patients was significantly higher than that on the healthy side: (11.10 ± 3.48) 10 -3 mm 2/s vs. (8.18 ± 2.42) 10 -3 mm 2/s, and the FA value on the affected side was significantly lower than that on the healthy side: 0.28 ± 0.05 vs. 0.45 ± 0.08, with a statistical significant differences ( P<0.05). The DCavg values of the acute infarction group, chronic infarction group, and chronic ischemic focus group were (11.88 ± 3.50), (9.69 ± 3.24) and (8.52 ± 2.34) 10 -3 mm 2/s, respectively, with statistical significant differences ( P<0.05). The FA values of the acute infarction group, chronic infarction group, and chronic ischemic focus group were 0.28 ± 0.04, 0.33 ± 0.06 and 0.40 ± 0.07, respectively, with statistical significant differences ( P<0.05). The receiver operating characteristic curve was drawn, and the results showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of the acute phase infarction group and the chronic phase infarction group evaluated by DCavg and FA alone and in combination were 0.757, 0.756, and 0.820, respectively. The AUC of the chronic phase infarction group and the chronic ischemic focus group evaluated by DCavg and FA were 0.772, 0.776, and 0.813, respectively. The AUC value of the combined evaluation was relatively large. Conclusions:DTI has good evaluation value for CSVD in SLE patients and can accurately determine the type of CSVD.