Statistical atlas of acute stroke from magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted-images of the brain

This study presents a method for computing a probabilistic atlas that describes the spatial distributions of acute infarcts of the brain. The data consisted of diffusion-weighted-images (DWI) and high-resolution T1-weighted MR images representing 22 studies from 22 subjects. All DWI data sets contained high-intensity lesions on B-1000 maps, known from clinical history to be related to acute stroke. To compute the atlas, manually segmented infarcts on original DWI were spatially transformed and registered to a common coordinate system. This coordinate system allowed combining all lesions into a statistical atlas in the model space. As a result, the computed probabilistic map showed mild left-sided predominance of brain infarcts, which likely represents asymmetry in eloquence of brain regions. In our opinion, the statistical atlas of acute brain infarcts can facilitate computer-based detection of stroke in large image data sets.