Prediction of the Treatment Efficacy of Patients with Subacute Cerebral Infarction using the Heterogeneity of APT-weighted Signals

Amide proton transfer weighted (APTw) MRI has been increasingly applied in the study of stroke based on its ability to detect pH and intracellular proteins content. In subacute infarction, the heterogeneity of APTw signal may reflect the clinical treatment efficacy of patients. In this study, we found that there is negative correlation between the heterogeneity signals (APTw_max-min) in the ischemic regions and the difference of NIHSS scores on the day of hospital admission and leaving (∆NIHSS). Therefore, the heterogeneity of APTw signal is potentially an effective imaging biomarker to predict the efficacy of patients with subacute cerebral infarction.