VASCULAR, INFLAMMATORY AND TUMOROUS LESIO NS OF THE TEMPORAL BONE ANDTHE CEREBELLOPONTINE ANGLE - A MRI APPROACH

Advances in high resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allow the evaluation of the cerebellopontine angle and temporal bone. The purpo se of our study was to demonstrate pathological and anatomical aberrat ions of cerebral arteries in relation to clinical symptoms. The study was carried out on a 1T MR whole body scanner (Impact, Siemens, Erlang en, Germany), using a head coil, a pre- and postcontrast (''Magnevist' ', Schering, Berlin, Germany) T-1-weighted 2D-FLASH sequence and a T-2 -weighted turbo-spin echo sequence. We examined 22 patients suffering from asymmetric hearing loss, pulse-synchronous tinnitus, hemifacial s pasm or facial palsy. The problem of a clear differentiation of mening iomas and acoustic neurinomas by means of MRI is discussed. We identif ied aberrant AICAs at the cerebellopontine angle in close contact with the V., VII. and VIII. cranial nerve. Inflammatory lesions of the fac ial and vestibulocochlear nerve were visualised successfully. The pote ntial of the pre- and postcontrast 2D-FLASH sequence for the detection of a wide range of different lesions in the cerebellopontine angle an d the temporal bone in MRI of the head was demonstrated.