PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - S C Young
AU  - R I Grossman
AU  - H I Goldberg
AU  - M V Spagnoli
AU  - D B Hackney
AU  - R A Zimmerman
AU  - L T Bilaniuk
TI  - MR of vascular encasement in parasellar masses: comparison with angiography and CT.
DP  - 1988 Jan 01
TA  - American Journal of Neuroradiology
PG  - 35--38
VI  - 9
IP  - 1
4099  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/9/1/35.short
4100  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/9/1/35.full
SO  - Am. J. Neuroradiol.1988 Jan 01; 9
AB  - The relationship between tumor mass and vascular involvement as seen on MR imaging was examined in 11 patients with masses in the parasellar region, and the findings were correlated with CT and angiography. In six cases, MR was superior to CT and angiography in depicting the relationship of the tumor to adjacent blood vessels. In these cases, MR demonstrated tumor surrounding the blood vessel without changing the diameter of its lumen. Angiography did not reveal encasement in these cases. In four cases, both MR and angiography showed signs of vascular encasement with narrowing of the vessel's lumen. In two cases, MR was equivocal while angiography revealed vascular encasement in one case and was negative for encasement in the other. CT was less sensitive than MR in defining vascular encasement since there is usually little contrast between an enhancing tumor and the major blood vessels. Coronal scanning appeared to be the best plane of imaging and correlated well with the anteroposterior angiogram. We propose that MR is the method of choice for evaluating arterial encasement by tumors and may obviate the need for angiography in those cases in which MR is positive for a basal lesion.