title: Display of dural sinuses with time-resolved, contrast-enhanced three-dimensional MR venography.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Time-resolved (TR) contrast-enhanced 3D MR angiography has recently received considerable attention for the workup of cerebrovascular diseases, foremost dural arteriovenous fistula and arteriovenous malformation, and potentially for the evaluation of dural sinus thrombosis. Thereby, the dynamic visualization of cerebral vessels is enabled similar to the principle of digital subtraction angiography. Yet, its voxel size is relatively large due to an inherent trade-off between the desired spatial and temporal resolutions. The goal of this study was to evaluate whether the limited spatial resolution of TR MR venography (MRV) is sufficient to visualize dural venous sinuses.
  
  
  METHODS
  The prospective study included 20 patients without compromise of cerebral venous outflow. Two neuroradiologists independently graded the quality of visualization of 11 predefined dural venous sinuses on images of fast TR contrast-enhanced MRV (1.5 s/dataset; voxel size, 2 x 2 x 2.2 mm; acquisition time, 37.5 s) in comparison to time-of-flight (TOF) MRV (voxel size, 0.8 x 0.8 x 4 mm; acquisition time, 3 min 51 s) and steady-state contrast-enhanced 3D (VIBE) MRV (voxel size, 1.1 x 0.9 x 1.5 mm; acquisition time, 2 min 46 s).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The torcular Herophili (p < 0.001), left (p < 0.001) and right (p < 0.01) transverse sinus, and right jugular bulb (p < 0.05) were visualized better at TR MRV than at TOF MRV. For visualization of the small inferior sagittal sinus, TR MRV was inferior to VIBE (p < 0.001) and TOF (p < 0.05) sequences. The visibility of all other dural sinuses was equal.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite the inferior spatial resolution, TR MRV depicted some large dural sinuses more clearly than TOF MRV. To overcome the visualization of smaller venous structures, TR MRV can be applied complementarily with high-resolution steady-state contrast-enhanced MRV.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuroradiology, Institute of Radiology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland. meckels@uhbs.ch
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meckel
authors.forename: Thomas M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Glücker
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kretzschmar
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Scheffler
authors.forename: Ernst-Wilhelm
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Radü
authors.forename: Stephan G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Wetzel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003392:Cranial Sinuses / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D009942:Organometallic Compounds / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D010690:Phlebography / Q000379:methods*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013997:Time Factors; D054064:Transverse Sinuses / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; C090600:gadobutrol