AUTHOR=Drake Mattias , Frid Petrea , Hansen Björn M. , Wu Ona , Giese Anne-Katrin , Schirmer Markus D. , Donahue Kathleen , Cloonan Lisa , Irie Robert E. , Bouts Mark J. R. J. , McIntosh Elissa C. , Mocking Steven J. T. , Dalca Adrian V. , Sridharan Ramesh , Xu Huichun , Giralt-Steinhauer Eva , Holmegaard Lukas , Jood Katarina , Roquer Jaume , Cole John W. , McArdle Patrick F. , Broderick Joseph P. , Jiménez-Conde Jordi , Jern Christina , Kissela Brett M. , Kleindorfer Dawn O. , Lemmens Robin , Meschia James F. , Rundek Tatjana , Sacco Ralph L. , Schmidt Reinhold , Sharma Pankaj , Slowik Agnieszka , Thijs Vincent , Woo Daniel , Worrall Bradford B. , Kittner Steven J. , Mitchell Braxton D. , Rosand Jonathan , Golland Polina , Lindgren Arne , Rost Natalia S. , Wassélius Johan 

TITLE=Diffusion-Weighted Imaging, MR Angiography, and Baseline Data in a Systematic Multicenter Analysis of 3,301 MRI Scans of Ischemic Stroke Patients—Neuroradiological Review Within the MRI-GENIE Study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2020.00577

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2020.00577

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) serves as a cornerstone in defining stroke phenotype and etiological subtype through examination of ischemic stroke lesion appearance and is therefore an essential tool in linking genetic traits and stroke. Building on baseline MRI examinations from the centralized and structured radiological assessments of ischemic stroke patients in the Stroke Genetics Network, the results of the MRI-Genetics Interface Exploration (MRI-GENIE) study are described in this work.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> The MRI-GENIE study included patients with symptoms caused by ischemic stroke (<italic>N</italic> = 3,301) from 12 international centers. We established and used a structured reporting protocol for all assessments. Two neuroradiologists, using a blinded evaluation protocol, independently reviewed the baseline diffusion-weighted images (DWIs) and magnetic resonance angiography images to determine acute lesion and vascular occlusion characteristics.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> In this systematic multicenter radiological analysis of clinical MRI from 3,301 acute ischemic stroke patients according to a structured prespecified protocol, we identified that anterior circulation infarcts were most prevalent (67.4%), that infarcts in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory were the most common, and that the majority of large artery occlusions 0 to 48 h from ictus were in the MCA territory. Multiple acute lesions in one or several vascular territories were common (11%). Of 2,238 patients with unilateral DWI lesions, 52.6% had left-sided infarct lateralization (<italic>P</italic> = 0.013 for χ<sup>2</sup> test).</p><p><bold>Conclusions:</bold> This large-scale analysis of a multicenter MRI-based cohort of AIS patients presents a unique imaging framework facilitating the relationship between imaging and genetics for advancing the knowledge of genetic traits linked to ischemic stroke.</p>