SANDI-Based Analysis of White Matter Hyperintensity Penumbras in Post-Stroke Patients at 5.0T MRI

Motivation: White matter hyperintensity (WMH) penumbras are clinically relevant in stroke, representing subtly altered white matter around WMHs, yet are hard to detect with standard MRI. Goal(s): To assess the SANDI model's utility in detecting WMH penumbras in post-stroke patients on a 5T MRI scanner. Approach: SANDI was applied to multi-shell dMRI data from 82 stroke patients on a 5.0T scanner with high gradient performance. Results: Soma-related penumbras were broader than traditional penumbras and encompassing white matter tissue, suggests that soma-related metrics may be a potential biomarker for preventing micro and macrostructural white matter damage. Impact: This study demonstrates SANDI's capability on 5T MRI for detecting white matter hyperintensity penumbras in post-stroke patients, offering a promising biomarker for early white matter damage and advancing clinical stroke assessments through microstructural insights.