Comparison of real-time three-dimensional gadolinium-enhanced elliptic centric-ordered MR venography and two-dimensional time-of-flight MR venography of the intracranial venous system

Background: To compare 3-dimensional gadolinium-enhanced elliptic centric-ordered (3D GEC) magnetic resonance venography (MRV) with traditional 2-dimensional time-of-flight (2D TOF) MRV for imaging of the intracranial venous system.

Methods: Fifty-three patients underwent 2D and 3D MRV, whereby venous structures were evaluated by 2 neuroradiologists.

Results: Of the 53 patients, 10 were diagnosed with dural venous sinus thrombosis and 12 with intracranial tumors. 3D GEC MRV displayed superior sensitivity/specificity (90.9%/96.8%) compared to 2D TOF MRV (63.6%/48.4%). Analysis of the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves also showed superiority of 3D GEC (0.91) versus 2D TOF (0.53) MRV. Of the remaining 31 healthy patients, the rate of complete visibility of venous structures was also greater for 3D GEC (95.8%) than for 2D TOF (62.1%) MRV.

Conclusion: 3D GEC MRV is superior to 2D TOF MRV for providing more detail of the intracranial venous system, and can lead to better diagnosis of venous conditions.