RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Pediatric Head and Neck Lesions: Assessment of Vascularity by MR Digital Subtraction Angiography
JF American Journal of Neuroradiology
JO Am. J. Neuroradiol.
FD American Society of Neuroradiology
SP 1251
OP 1255
VO 25
IS 7
A1 Chooi, Weng Kong
A1 Woodhouse, Neil
A1 Coley, Stuart C.
A1 Griffiths, Paul D.
YR 2004
UL http://www.ajnr.org/content/25/7/1251.abstract
AB BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Pediatric head and neck lesions can be difficult to characterize on clinical grounds alone. We investigated the use of dynamic MR digital subtraction angiography as a noninvasive adjunct for the assessment of the vascularity of these abnormalities.METHODS: Twelve patients (age range, 2 days to 16 years) with known or suspected vascular abnormalities were studied. Routine MR imaging, time-of-flight MR angiography, and MR digital subtraction angiography were performed in all patients. The dynamic sequence was acquired in two planes at one frame per second by using a thick section (6–10 cm) selective radio-frequency spoiled fast gradient-echo sequence and an IV administered bolus of contrast material. The images were subtracted from a preliminary mask sequence and viewed as a video-inverted cine loop.RESULTS: In all cases, MR digital subtraction angiography was successfully performed. The technique showed the following: 1) slow flow lesions (two choroidal angiomas, eyelid hemangioma, and scalp venous malformation); 2) high flow lesions that were not always suspected by clinical examination alone (parotid hemangioma, scalp, occipital, and eyelid arteriovenous malformations plus a palatal teratoma); 3) a hypovascular tumor for which a biopsy could be safely performed (Burkitt lymphoma); and 4) a hypervascular tumor of the palate (cystic teratoma).CONCLUSION: Our early experience suggests that MR digital subtraction angiography can be reliably performed in children of all ages without complication. The technique provided a noninvasive assessment of the vascularity of each lesion that could not always have been predicted on the basis of clinical examination or routine MR imaging alone.