• Diaschisis
• MRI
• diffusion
• intensive & critical care
• stroke medicine
• neuropathology
• diagnostic radiology
• magnetic resonance imaging

A 64-year-old woman, with a history of epilepsy, presented with refractory status epilepticus. Upon admission to the intensive care unit she was treated with anticonvulsive agents (benzodiazepines, phenobarbital, and valproic acid). Her Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was 8; she had a fever (38.5°C) and hypoglycaemia (0.58 g/l). An electroencephalogram (EEG) performed after the anticonvulsant drugs were administered revealed a predominant left cortical slow wave activity. A magnetic resonance (MR) brain scan was performed, including axial diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) (figure 1) with apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map (figure 2) and axial fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) (figure 3) weighted sequences. The left hemispheric cortex appeared hyperintense in DWI (arrows) together …