The Imaging Features of Cerebral Venous Sinus Occlusion

Objective To study the imaging findings of cerebral venous sinus occlusion and to improve the knowledge of this disease.Methods CT,MRI and DSA data in thirty six cases with cerebral venous sinous occlusion were retrospectively reviewed.There were 15 male and 21 female,ranged in age from 23 to 59 years old.Results On T_1WI and T_2WI,abnormal signals in cerebral parenchyma were found in 26 cases,of that there were brain hemorrhage with abnromal long T_1 and long T_2 signal in 16 cases,only abnromal long T_1 and long T_2 signal in 6 cases,cerebral ventrical enlargment in 4 cases and brain swelling in 4 cases.The abnormal venous enhancement was found in 25 cases on contrast-enhanced MRI.On CT scan,low density in cerebral parenchyma was found in 10 cases,it might be edema or ischemia,astime goes by,the density of cerebral venous sinus became slightly high density to isodensity.DSA showed dural sinus occlusion includingsuperior sagittal sinus in 15 cases,transverse sinus in 8 cases,sigmoid sinus in 7 cases,straight sinus in 4 cases and inferior sagittal sinus in 2 cases.Conclusion The venous sinus occlusive disease is distinctively different from arterial occlusive disease.CT and MR imaging is very important in diagnosing the cerebral venous sinus occlusive disease,but DSA is still the gold standard.