Previous studies have indicated that the temporal change of relative diffusion weighted imaging (rDWI) signal intensity may help to determine the onset time of a stroke. Furthermore, several studies have indicated that high b value DWI offered improved detection rates for hyper‑acute ischemic lesions compared with standard b value DWI. However, the temporal changes of the rDWI on high b value DWI remain unclear. Therefore, based on our embolic canine stroke model, we evaluated the temporal evolution of rDWI on high b value DWI, and further compared its diagnostic value in predicting the onset time of ischemic stroke with rDWI on standard b value DWI. Twelve canine MCAO models were established, and DWI was performed at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 h after MCAO, with 3 b values of 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000. High b value DWI detected all ischemic lesions after 1 h, while standard b value did not detect the ischemic lesions in one dog at 1 h. With all three of the tested b values, rDWIs increased continuously within 6 h, while relative apparent diffusion coefficient (rADC) values rapidly decreased in 1 h, then became relatively stable. The area under the curve values for rDWI with b value of 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000, in predicting ischemic lesions within 3 h were 0.897, 0.929 and 0.938, while for rADC were 0.645, 0.583 and 0.599, respectively. Therefore, the results indicated that the rDWI was helpful in aging hyper‑acute ischemic stroke, while rADC appeared not to be. High b value DWI had a higher detection rate for ischemic lesions and better predictive efficacy in determining the onset time of hyper-acute stroke.

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