title: Identification of endolymphatic hydrops in Ménière's disease utilizing delayed postcontrast 3D FLAIR and fused 3D FLAIR and CISS color maps.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The preferential delayed enhancement of the perilymphatic space enables detection of the non-enhancing endolymphatic hydrops present in patients with Ménière's disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic utility of delayed postcontrast 3D FLAIR images and a color map of fused postcontrast FLAIR and constructive interference steady state (CISS) images in the identification of endolymphatic hydrops in patients with clinically diagnosed Ménière's disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case control, blinded study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tertiary referral center.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten patients with Ménière's disease and five volunteer controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Diagnostic.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two neuroradiologists blinded to the clinical history independently evaluated for the presence of endolymphatic hydrops on the images of both inner ears for test and control subjects. Both the standard gray-scale FLAIR images and the fused color map images were independently reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The gray-scale 3D FLAIR images demonstrated 68.2% sensitivity and 97.4% specificity, and the fused color map images demonstrated 85.0% sensitivity and 88.9% specificity in the identification of endolymphatic hydrops in Ménière's disease. There was significant correlation between the gray-scale 3D FLAIR images and fused color map images with the categorization of involvement (p = 0.002). Inter-evaluator reliability was excellent (kappa = 0.83 for gray-scale images, kappa = 0.81 for fused color map).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Delayed 3D FLAIR and fused 3D FLAIR-CISS color map images of the inner ears after intravenous contrast administration are potentially useful diagnostic tools in the evaluation of patients with suspected Ménière's disease.
authors.affiliation: *Departments of Radiology and †Otolaryngology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, U.S.A.; ‡Department of Otolaryngology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and §Department of Otolaryngology, Columbia University, New York, New York, U.S.A.
authors.forename: Mari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hagiwara
authors.forename: J Thomas
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Roland
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nusbaum
authors.forename: James S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Babb
authors.forename: Pamela C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Roehm
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hammerschlag
authors.forename: Anil K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Lalwani
authors.forename: Girish
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fatterpekar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D007758:Ear, Inner / Q000473:pathology*; D018159:Endolymphatic Hydrops / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008575:Meniere Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results