Cortical Restricted Diffusion From Arrest to Mad Cow: A Clinicoradiologic Approach

Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is a powerful tool in MRI of the brain. DWI assesses the ability of water molecules to freely move within tissues through Brownian motion. Water that is extracellular has rapid diffusivity, whereas water within an intracellular compartment has decreased diffusivity. DWI assesses the ease with which these water molecules diffuse from the intracellular to extracellular compartments and out of the region of interest through phase and refocusing gradients, and imaging will demonstrate a hyperintense signal when the molecules are unable to freely diffuse.