Diagnosis of cerebral venous thrombosis with routine magnetic resonance: an update.

Magnetic resonance imaging and angiography is the technique of choice in the diagnosis and follow-up of cerebral venous thrombosis: Thrombosis appears as an absence of flow void on spin echo images and lack of signal in angiographic techniques. The thrombus signal intensity is different on T1 and T2 spin echo weighted images and evolves according to hemoglobin degradation. Recognition of pitfalls and artefacts related to the different magnetic resonance imaging techniques employed is essential to interpret dural venous sinus thrombosis. In this paper the imaging of 27 patients with cerebral venous thromboses is reviewed. We describe the type of signal abnormalities, the different types of clot- and flow-related artefacts, and the indirect signs of cerebral venous thrombosis.