INTRACRANIAL VASCULAR MALFORMATIONS

Many efforts and much research have been ,dedicated to the field of no n-invasive angiographic techniques in the past few years. Thanks first to magnetic resonance angiography th (RA) and subsequently to compute d tomographic angiography I(CTA), very interesting results have been o btained in the diagnosis of cerebrovascular diseases. Neck vessels are most successfully evaluated by both MRA and CTA, and the need for dig ital subtraction angiography (DSA) examinations in patients at risk fo r vascular occlusions has significantly decreased. The role and the di agnostic accuracy of these non-invasive modalities in intracranial vas cular pathology is still under investigation, and several studies have been and are being performed. Both techniques have a better spatial r esolution and sensitivity in detecting cerebrovascular malformations t han DSA. In the diagnosis of cerebral aneurysms, both MRA and CTA - du e to their high sensitivity - have become screening techniques in the population at risk for subarachnoid hemorrhage, these techniques may b ecome basic diagnostic modalities in treatment planning. The results a re less satisfying in the evaluation of brain arteriovenous malformati ons and in the different steps of pre- and post-therapeutic evaluation .