title: The occipitotemporal vein: a cadaver, MRI and CT study.
abstract: The author studied a superficial temporal vein running anteroposteriorly within the occipitotemporal sulcus, the "occipitotemporal vein", which, when prominent, could be thought to simulate a "venous angioma" on MRI. A cadaver (n = 50), MRI (n = 200), and CT (n = 50) study was undertaken to examine the incidence, detectability, size, location, and drainage of the occipitotemporal vein. It was an approximately 3 mm wide, 2-5 cm long structure. It was present in 83% of the cadavers (52% bilaterally), and clearly identifiable on 73% of the MRI (43% bilaterally), and 8% of the CT studies. In 18% of the cadavers the vein was totally absent, and it was not seen in 27% of the MRI examinations. The occipitotemporal vein can be distinguished from a venous angioma by its particular location and course, and by lack of intraluminal bright signal on spin-echo T2-weighted and/or contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images. In addition, venous angiomas are usually intraparenchymal, whereas the occipitotemporal vein is a superficial vessel.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Ege University Hospital, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Sener
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002102:Cadaver; D002550:Cerebral Veins / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed