TY - JOUR T1 - Essential hypertension and neurovascular compression at the ventrolateral medulla oblongata: MR evaluation. JF - American Journal of Neuroradiology JO - Am. J. Neuroradiol. SP - 401 LP - 405 VL - 16 IS - 2 AU - T Akimura AU - Y Furutani AU - Y Jimi AU - K Saito AU - S Kashiwagi AU - S Kato AU - H Ito Y1 - 1995/02/01 UR - http://www.ajnr.org/content/16/2/401.abstract N2 - PURPOSE To investigate, using MR imaging, neurovascular compression at the ventrolateral medulla oblongata in patients with essential hypertension. METHODS Thirty-two patients with essential hypertension (57.6 +/- 7 years of age), 6 patients with secondary hypertension (56.7 +/- 10.3 years of age), and 18 control subjects (50.5 +/- 11 years of age) were evaluated. Transaxial three-dimensional fast low angle shot images were obtained (38/6/1 [repetition time/echo time/excitations]). The center of a 40-mm-thick slab (16 partitions) was placed at the pontomedullary junction. We evaluated the relationships between the upper ventrolateral medulla and the vertebral arteries and branches identified by their flow-related hyperintensities in each group. RESULTS In the essential hypertension group, 29 (90.6%) of 32 cases showed neurovascular compression. Of those, 22 demonstrated neurovascular compression on the left side, 3 on both sides, and 4 on the right side. In the control group, 4 cases of 18 showed neurovascular compression. In the secondary hypertension group, 1 of 6 cases showed neurovascular compression. The rates of observed neurovascular compression between controls and essential hypertension group were statistically significant. CONCLUSION We found a close correlation between essential hypertension and neurovascular compression at the ventrolateral medulla oblongata on the left side. MR with a 3-D fast low-angle shot sequence has acceptable spatial resolution and depicts blood vessels simultaneously by flow-related phenomena. ER -