Visualization of the Internal Cerebral Veins on MR Phase-Sensitive Imaging: Comparison with 3D Gadolinium-Enhanced MR Venography and Fast-Spoiled Gradient Recalled Imaging

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Fig 1.
The ICV (arrow) and TSV (double arrows) are clearly and completely displayed with the PSI-MRV (A), 3D CE-FSPGR (B), and 3D CE-MRV (C) in this patient. The septal veins (arrowheads) are delineated best on the PSI-MRV, followed by the 3D CE-FSPGR and then the 3D CE-MRV. The medial atrial vein (curved arrows) is easily identified on PSI-MRV, compared with 3D CE-FSPGR and 3D CE-MRV, because of the easy localization of the lateral ventricles and less arterial pollution around the vein of Galen.
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Fig 2.
Anterior caudate nucleus veins (arrow) are shown qualitatively best on 3D CE-FSPGR (B), followed by PSI-MRV (A), and then 3D CE-MRV (C). The superior choroidal vein (arrowhead) is clearly shown on 3D CE-FSPGR (B), poorly shown on 3D CE-MRV (C), and invisible on PSI-MRV (A) in this patient.

Table 1:

Imaging parameters in PSI, 3D CE-MRV, and 3D CE-FSPGR sequences

Parameter	PSI	3D CE-MRV	3D CE-FSPGR
Orientation	Axial	Sagittal	Axial
TR (ms)	40	3.1	7.8
TE (ms)	26	0.9	3.8
Flip angle	20°	25°	25°
Slab thickness (mm)	80	160	160–180
Section thickness (mm)	2	1	0.7
FOV (mm)	240	260	240
Pixel matrix	320 × 288	288 × 256	320 × 256
NEX	0.75	1	2
Acquisition time (min/sec)	4.57	1.50	5.47–7.43

Table 2:

A comparison of the visualization of ICV and tributaries on the 3 different MRV techniques

Veins	MRV						PSI-MRV/3D CE-MRV	PSI-MRV/3D CE-FSPGR	3D CE-MRV/3D CE-FSPGR
	PSI-MRV		3D CE-MRV		3D CE-FSPGR
	Range	Mean	Range	Mean	Range	Mean
ICV	3–3	3.00 ± 0.00	3–3	3.00 ± 0.00	3–3	3.00 ± 0.00	None	None	None
TSV	3–3	3.00 ± 0.00	3–3	3.00 ± 0.00	3–3	3.00 ± 0.00	None	None	None
SV	2–3	2.90 ± 0.30	1–3	2.44 ± 0.52	2–3	2.73 ± 0.50	PSI^{^a}	PSI^{^a}	FSPGR^{^a}
Anterior caudate nucleus veins	1–3	2.34 ± 0.81	0–3	1.44 ± 0.74	1–3	2.46 ± 0.57	PSI^{^a}	FSPGR^{^b}	FSPGR^{^a}
Superior choroidal vein	0–1	0.86 ± 0.35	0–2	1.65 ± 0.66	0–2	1.85 ± 0.51	3D CE-MRV^{^a}	FSPGR^{^a}	FSPGR^{^a}
Medial atrial vein	0–3	1.93 ± 0.94	0–3	1.50 ± 0.91	0–3	2.09 ± 1.04	PSI^{^a}	FSPGR^{^c}	FSPGR^{^c}