Journal of Clinical Medicine (Nov 2023)

Diffusion Restriction in the Splenium: A Comparative Study of Cytotoxic Lesions of the Corpus Callosum (CLOCCs) versus Lesions of Vascular Etiology

  • Brian Stamm,
  • Christina M. Lineback,
  • Mengxuan Tang,
  • Dan Tong Jia,
  • Ella Chrenka,
  • Farzaneh A. Sorond,
  • Behnam Sabayan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm12226979
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 22
p. 6979

Abstract

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Cytotoxic lesions of the corpus callosum (CLOCCs) have broad differential diagnoses. Differentiating these lesions from lesions of vascular etiology is of high clinical significance. We compared the clinical and radiological characteristics and outcomes between vascular splenial lesions and CLOCCs in a retrospective cohort study. We examined the clinical and radiologic characteristics and outcomes in 155 patients with diffusion restriction in the splenium of the corpus callosum. Patients with lesions attributed to a vascular etiology (N = 124) were older (64.1 vs. 34.6 years old, p 1 vascular risk factor (91.1% vs. 45.2%, p p ≤ 0.05). CLOCCs (N = 31) more commonly had midline splenial involvement (p p p = 0.002). The rate of in-hospital mortality was significantly higher in patients with vascular etiology lesions (p = 0.04). Across vascular etiology lesions, cardio-embolism was the most frequent stroke mechanism (29.8%). Our study shows that corpus callosum diffusion restricted lesions of vascular etiology and CLOCCs are associated with different baseline, clinical, and radiological characteristics and outcomes. Accurately differentiating these lesions is important for appropriate treatment and secondary prevention.

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