Value of magnetic resonance angiography and venography in the diagnosis and therapeutic effect assessment of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis

Objective To assess the value of two-dimensional time-of-flight (2D-TOF) magnetic resonance venography (MRV) and 3D-TOF MR angiography (MRA) in the diagnosis and therapeutic effect evaluation of cerebral sinus thrombosis (CVST). Methods Twelve patients with CVST underwent both conventional spin-echo (SE) sequence MRI and 2D-TOF MRV, and 10 of the patients also received examination with DSA and 8 received 3D-TOF MRA. The findings of CVST by these imaging modalities were compared in these patients. Results A total of 34 CVST lesions were found in these 12 patients. Conventional SE sequence MRI identified 17 CVST lesions in 9 cases, showing abnormal signals in the venous sinus and loss of normal blood flow signals. MRV detected 32 CVST lesions in 11 cases, shown as filling defects and loss of normal high signals in the venous sinuses. DSA displayed 30 CVST lesions in 10 cases, and MRV showed reduced number of the cerebral arteries in 2 of 8 cases. The detection rate of cerebral venous sinus was 93.3% by MRV. Most of the venous sinuses showed normal high signals in 6 patients after endovascular treatment, and the two patients with reduced cerebral artery shown by MRA showed markedly increased cerebral arteries after thrombolytic therapy. Conclusion MRV and MRA can be of important values in the diagnosis and therapeutic effect evaluation of CVST. Key words: Cerebral venous sinus;  Thrombosis;  Magnetic resonance imaging