Background: We aimed to test 1) whether early cerebral injury following an acute hypoxicischaemic insult in the piglet might be detected by changes in the ADC of brain water measured by magnetic resonance imaging, and 2) whether these changes related to cerebral energy metabolism.

Methods: 6 piglets aged < 24 h were anaethetised, ventilated and subjected to a transient hypoxicischaemic insult by occlusion of the carotid arteries and reduction of inspired oxygen.

Measurements: Using a diffusion-weighted imaging sequence. ADC values from lateral and medial cortical grey matter regions were collected at baseline and for 48 h post resuscitation. Cerebral phosphocreatine (PCr) and inorganic phosphate (Pi) were measured by phosphorous magnetic resonance spectroscopy and the ratio PCr/Pi used as an index of cerebral energy metabolism.

Results: Table

Table 1
Full size table

Conclusion: A fall in cortical grey matter ADC is associated with a decline in cerebral energy metabolism following transient cerebral hypoxia-ischemia in the newborn piglet. ADC maps may detect very early hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury with the added advantage of high spatial resolution.