Original ArticleThe anatomical classification of AICA/PICA branching and configurations in the cerebellopontine angle area on 3D-drive thin slice T2WI MRI
Section snippets
Material and methods
From September 2006 to August 2011,a total of 60 consecutive patients (33 men and 27 women aged 8–85 years old; mean age 53.4 years old) with sensory hearing loss or vertigo, dizziness, and/or tinnitus were examined with 1.5-T Intera Achieva MRI scanner with sense coil (Philips Medical System, Best, the Netherlands). Five subjects (three men, two women) without any auditory symptoms were also included in this study. On each subject, the informed consent was obtained. Our institutional ethics
Results
In this study, three acoustic schwannomas (size ranging from 3 mm to 28×25×24 mm) were detected in the IAC or CPA cistern in three patients. Cochlear abnormality such as bilateral hypoplastic anomaly of the inner ear was observed in a 60 year-old female patient with deafness. The dilatation of vestibular aqueduct was also seen in a hearing loss case (Fig. 1). The brain stem lacuna infarction and chronic ischemic foci were observed in two and one case(s), respectively. We also encountered the
Discussion
MRI including an enhanced study with Gd-DTPA has been used commonly to rule out the acoustic tumor or other active inflammatory lesions such as Ramsay–Hunt syndrome or labyrinthitis in patients with auditory symptoms. Especially in patients with sensory neural hearing loss, MRI is superior to computed tomography in evaluating the inner ear, blood vessels, adjacent fatty bone marrow, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) spaces because of its superior characterization of soft tissue. MRI is also useful
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