Role of coronal high-resolution diffusion-weighted imaging in acute optic neuritis: a comparison with axial orientation.

PURPOSE: Through a comparison with the axial orientation, we aimed to evaluate the role of coronal high-resolution diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in acute optic neuritis based on diagnostic accuracy and the reproducibility of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements.

METHODS: Orbital DWI, using readout-segmented, parallel imaging, and 2D navigator-based reacquisition (RESOLVE-DWI), was performed on 49 patients with acute vision loss. The coronal (thickness = 3 mm) and axial (thickness = 2 mm) diffusion images were evaluated by two neuroradiologists retrospectively. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were calculated through diagnostic test; the inter- and intra-observer reliabilities were assessed with a weighted Cohen's kappa test. In addition, the agreement of ADC measurement among observers was evaluated by the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), coefficient of variation (CV), and Bland-Altman plots. Comparison of ADC values was also performed by unpaired t test.

RESULTS: Among the 49 patients, 47 clinically positive optic nerves and 51 clinically negative optic nerves were found. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 85.1/87.2%, 90.2/94.12%, and 87.8/90.8%, respectively, for coronal RESOLVE-DWI and 83.0/85.1%, 66.7/76.5%, and 75.5/79.6%, respectively, for axial RESOLVE-DWI. The inter-observer kappa values were 0.710 and 0.806 for axial and coronal RESOLVE-DWI, respectively, and the intra-observer kappa values were 0.822 and 0.909, respectively (each P < 0.0001). Regarding the reproducibility of ADC measurements on axial and coronal RESOLVE-DWI, the ICCs among observers were 0.846 and 0.941, respectively, and the CV values were 7.046 and 4.810%, respectively. Bland-Altman plots revealed smaller inter-observer variability on coronal RESOLVE-DWI. ADC values were significantly lower in positive group (each P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION: Higher specificity and better reproducibility of ADC measurements were found for coronal RESOLVE-DWI, which demonstrated the feasibility of the use of coronal RESOLVE-DWI to examine acute optic neuritis patients.