Abstract：Objective: To evaluate the value and accuracy of magnetic susceptibility weighted imaging(MSWI) of FLASH-T2*WI sequence in the diagnosis of cerebral cavernous malformation(CCM) by comparing with TSE-T2WI. Methods: Twenty-seven patients performed with routine MR examination and dual echo FLASH-T2*WI(TE=15, 35ms) were analyzed retrospectively, all cases were confirmed by pathology or other methods. Results: ①All lesions on SE-T1WI and TSE-T2WI were depicted iso-, hyper-, hypo- or heterogeneous signal intensity, 99 lesions were detected by TSE-T2WI, and magnetic susceptibility artifact(MSA) was found in 84 lesions, 63(75%) of them were depicted as “hoop sign” and 21(25%) were completely hypo-intense; 234 and 423 lesions were found orderly by dual echo FLASH-T2*WI(TE=15, 35ms), MSA was present in all focus, 14 lesions were described as “hoop sign” and 220(94.02%), 409(96.69%) were absolutely hypo-intense, there were great difference of image signs, size and contrast to noise ratio(CNR) of MSA between the three weighted imagings. ②Seventeen lesions of 19 patients with “hoop sign” or MSA were confirmed as thrombus, hemosiderin or gliosis by pathology. Conclusion: “Hoop sign” or MSA was one of the important signs for CCM, MSWI of FLASH-T2*WI sequence is helpful in the diagnosis of CCM, and FLASH with long TE is better than short TE to show small lesions.
2009, Vol. 20 
