BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To test the hypothesis that sporadic cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) are systematically associated with venous malformations (VMs) using susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) at 7 Tesla (T) field MRI. METHODS: A prospective unselected series of 20 patients with symptomatic or asymptomatic sporadic CCM diagnosed using 1.5 T MRI was additionally scanned using high resolution (250 µm(2) in-plane) SWI at 7 T MRI. Imaging data were analysed to examine the presence and formation of CCM associated venous vessel structures. Interobserver agreement was assessed using kappa statistics. RESULTS: In the 20 patients harbouring 23 CCMs, a solitary or multiple venous drainage was found in all lesions. A 'typical' VM was found in seven lesions. In the other cases, associated abnormal venous structures were also depicted although they appeared structurally different. Excellent interobserver agreement was achieved (95% confidence interval 0.92 to 0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Our data support previous assumptions that sporadic CCMs are systematically associated with local venous abnormalities involving larger outflow vessels. However, the typical appearance of a VM was not confirmed in all cases. The role of the venous environment in the pathomechanism of CCMs remains unclear.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To test the hypothesis that sporadic cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) are systematically associated with venous malformations (VMs) using susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) at 7 Tesla (T) field MRI. METHODS: A prospective unselected series of 20 patients with symptomatic or asymptomatic sporadic CCM diagnosed using 1.5 T MRI was additionally scanned using high resolution (250 µm(2) in-plane) SWI at 7 T MRI. Imaging data were analysed to examine the presence and formation of CCM associated venous vessel structures. Interobserver agreement was assessed using kappa statistics. RESULTS: In the 20 patients harbouring 23 CCMs, a solitary or multiple venous drainage was found in all lesions. A 'typical' VM was found in seven lesions. In the other cases, associated abnormal venous structures were also depicted although they appeared structurally different. Excellent interobserver agreement was achieved (95% confidence interval 0.92 to 0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Our data support previous assumptions that sporadic CCMs are systematically associated with local venous abnormalities involving larger outflow vessels. However, the typical appearance of a VM was not confirmed in all cases. The role of the venous environment in the pathomechanism of CCMs remains unclear.
Authors: Karsten H Wrede; Toshinori Matsushige; Sophia L Goericke; Bixia Chen; Lale Umutlu; Harald H Quick; Mark E Ladd; Sören Johst; Michael Forsting; Ulrich Sure; Marc Schlamann Journal: Eur Radiol Date: 2016-03-18 Impact factor: 5.315
Authors: Christoph Schwartz; Andreas Grillhösl; Christian Schichor; Bogdana Suchorska; Alexander Romagna; Jörg-Christian Tonn; Stefan Zausinger Journal: J Neurol Date: 2013-08-22 Impact factor: 4.849