title: Efficacy of t2∗-weighted gradient-echo MRI in early diagnosis of cerebral venous thrombosis with unilateral thalamic lesion.
abstract: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is an uncommon cause of stroke with diverse etiologies and varied clinical presentations. Because of variability in clinical presentation and neuroimaging, CVT remains a diagnostic challenge. Recently, some studies have highlighted the value of T2∗-weighted gradient-echo MRI (T2∗WI) in the diagnosis of CVT. We report the case of a 79-year-old woman with CVT due to a hypercoagulable state associated with cancer. On the initial T2-weighted image (T2WI), there was a diffuse high-intensity lesion in the right thalamus, extending into the posterior limb of the internal capsule and midbrain. T2∗WI showed diminished signal and enlargement of the right basilar vein and the vein of Galen. Even though there is a wide range of differential diagnoses in unilateral thalamic lesions, and a single thalamus lesion is a rare entity of CVT, based on T2∗WI findings we could make an early diagnosis and perform treatment. Our case report suggests that T2∗WI could detect thrombosed veins and be a useful method of early diagnosis in CVT.
authors: Department of Neurology, Shimane University School of Medicine, 89-1 Enya-cho, Izumo 693-8501, Japan.
authors: Shingo
authors: S
authors: Mitaki
authors: Shuhei
authors: S
authors: Yamaguchi
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