Diagnosis of cerebral venous thrombosis with routine magnetic resonance: An update

Magnetic resonance imaging and angiography is the technique of choice in th e diagnosis and follow-up of cerebral venous thrombosis: Thrombosis appears as an absence of flow void on spin echo images and lack of signal in angio graphic techniques. The thrombus signal intensity is different on T1 and T2 spin echo weighted images and evolves according to hemoglobin degradation. Recognition of pitfalls and artefacts related to the different magnetic re sonance imaging techniques employed is essential to interpret dural venous sinus thrombosis. In this paper the imaging of 27 patients with cerebral ve nous thromboses is reviewed. We describe the type of signal abnormalities, the different types of clot- and flow-related artefacts, and the indirect s igns of cerebral venous thrombosis.