Visualization of the normal cerebral venous system using a contrast-enhanced three-dimensional magnetic resonance angiography technique

Ultrafast contrast-enhanced (CE) 3D Magnetic resonance angiography has been used recently to image the cerebral venous system. It was necessary to assess its reliability in imaging the normal cerebral venous structures in order to determine its usefulness for evaluating pathological conditions. The objectives of this study were to determine the frequency of visualization of dural sinuses and intracranial veins and the distribution of transverse sinus dominance, and to correlate these with reported values. Our study comprised 98 patients who had both normal brain MRI and MR venography. T1- and T2-weighted spinecho images, fluid attenuation inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequences, and CE 3D Turbo-flash MRA images were acquired. According to the quality of visualization, the dural sinuses and cerebral veins were classified into four grades and the distribution of transverse sinus dominance was determined. Complete coverage of the cerebral venous system was obtained in 60s. The large dural sinuses, the vein of Galen, and the internal cerebral veins were completely visualized in all cases. The inferior sagittal sinus, the thalamostriate veins, the basal veins of Rosenthal, and the veins of Trolard and Labbe were seen either completely or partially in 61%, 86%, 90%, 98%, and 85% of cases, respectively. The transverse sinus was right, left, and codominant in 58%, 19%, and 23% of cases, respectively. We found that our results were in excellent agreement with the reported values. CE 3D turbo-flash MRA, however, offers the advantage of a shorter examination time.