IMAGING AFTER TITANIUM CRANIOPLASTY

Titanium cranioplasty has been used in our unit for reconstruction of cranial defects following trauma, rumour resection and bone loss due t o postcraniotomy infection. It has previously been assumed that imagin g to assess recurrence of disease progression after cranioplasty would be severely compromised in the presence of metallic material. Titaniu m is a non-ferrous metal of low atomic number, which is relatively rad iolucent and allows exceptionally clear images to be obtained without significant degradation of image quality, on CT and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Cases are presented that demonstrate the use of CT cont rast cisternography and MR imaging after titanium cranioplasty. On the basis of its strength, biocompatibility and excellent handling charac teristics, allied to its suitability for all post-operative imaging te chniques, we conclude that titanium plate is the material of choice fo r cranioplasty.