Fellows' Journal Club
Cerebral Blood Flow by Using Pulsed Arterial Spin-Labeling in Elderly Subjects with White Matter Hyperintensities • A.J. Bastos-Leite, J.P.A. Kuijer, S.A.R.B. Rombouts, E. Sanz-Arigita, E.C. van Straaten, A.A. Gouw, W.M. van der Flier, P. Scheltens and F. Barkhof
White matter T2 hyperintensities are common in older adults and believed to be related to ischemia. In this article the authors used arterial spin-labeled cerebral MR angiography to evaluate 21 elderly patients with confluent white matter disease and compared their CBF measurements with those of patients who had punctate or mild T2 hyperintensities. They concluded that CBF was significantly reduced in patients with confluent T2 white matter hyperintensities.
Brain Parenchymal Signal Abnormalities Associated with Developmental Venous Anomalies: Detailed MR Imaging Assessment • G.M. Santucci, J.L. Leach, J. Ying, S.D. Leach and T.A. Tomsick
High T2 signal intensity is known to occur in the territory drained by a developmental venous anomaly. The authors found 28 patients and assessed the location and morphology of their developmental venous anomalies. Accompanying abnormal T2 signal intensity was present in 12.5% of the anomalies. Findings associated with developmental venous anomalies with brain parenchymal T2 signal included a periventricular location of the anomaly and older patient age.
Comparison of Echo-Planar Diffusion-Weighted Imaging and Delayed Postcontrast T1-Weighted MR Imaging for the Detection of Residual Cholesteatoma • F. Venail, A. Bonafe, V. Poirrier, M. Mondain and A. Uziel
Differentiating recurrent/residual middle ear cholesteatomas from postoperative changes may be difficult, but DWI is thought to be useful in these cases. In this study, 31 patients with residual soft tissue abnormalities after canal up mastoidectomies were imaged with DWI and delayed postcontrast T1 imaging. Although both techniques gave acceptable results in the assessment of residual cholesteatoma, DWI was the best.