MAGNETIC-RESONANCE ANGIOGRAPHY OF VASCULAR-LESIONS CAUSING NEUROOPHTHALMIC DEFICITS

Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) is a noninvasive, rapidly evolvin g technique for imaging the intra- and extracranial carotid and verteb robasilar circulations. It may in some circumstances obviate conventio nal angiography and the accompanying risks associated with catheteriza tion and contrast injection. MRA exploits the different physical prope rties between moving protons and stationary tissue to yield flow sensi tive data in the form of anatomic images or velocity and flow measurem ents. Since patients with various vascular disorders may present exclu sively with ophthalmologic signs and symptoms, it is expected that MRA will become more frequently utilized by ophthalmologists. The exact r ole of MRA in the workup of vascular disorders remains to be more prec isely defined, pending the performance of additional well-controlled s tandardized studies. At present, MRA is utilized to complement the con ventional spin-echo studies of patients with arterial and venous occlu sion, vascular malformations, intracranial aneurysms, and neoplastic v ascular invasion. With further refinements, it is expected that MRA wi ll become a standard diagnostic tool for the evaluation of patients wi th vascular disorders.