title: Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension: Diagnostic Accuracy of the Transverse Dural Venous Sinus Attenuation on CT Scans.
abstract: Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is a clinical disorder of unknown etiology. It may exhibit several non-specific imaging findings. We observed that patients with intracranial hypertension demonstrate intracranial venous sinus attenuation with changes in the contour and caliber of the distal transverse sinus. This can be seen on routine non-contrast sagittal reformatted CT images of the brain. We have termed this the venous attenuation sign (VAS). This study evaluated the VAS as a marker for IIH assessing the transverse sinuses on sagittal reformatted non-contrast CT for the presence of a VAS in 25 patients with IIH and 24 control patients. Scans were independently assessed in a blinded fashion by three readers. The readers identified the VAS in 96% of patients with IIH; 83.3% of the control patients were negative for VAS. Our study supports the VAS as an additional imaging marker which may be incorporated into the evaluation of patients suspected to have this condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiodiagnosis, Ain Shams University; Cairo, Egypt - yosra_abdelzaher@med.asu.edu.eg.
authors.forename: Yosra Abdelzaher
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging Sciences, Division of Neuroradiology, University of Rochester; Rochester, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mironov
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging Sciences, Division of Neuroradiology, University of Rochester; Rochester, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Deif
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging Sciences, Division of Neuroradiology, University of Rochester; Rochester, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Rajiv
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mangla
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging Sciences, Division of Neuroradiology, University of Rochester; Rochester, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Jeevak
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Almast
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011559:Pseudotumor Cerebri / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D054064:Transverse Sinuses / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: empty sella; idiopathic intracranial hypertension; lateral dural venous sinus stenosis; pseudo tumor cerebri