Improved detectability of acute and subacute brainstem infarctions by combining standard axial and thin-sliced sagittal DWI.

Background And Purpose: Most false negative findings in DWI of ischemic stroke are in patients with minor deficits clinically localized to the brainstem. Our goal was to evaluate the benefit of a thin-sliced sagittal DWI in addition to conventional axial DWI at 1.5T for the detection of brainstem infarctions.