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Published on: April 29, 2011
Hemodynamic assessments of venous pulsatile tinnitus using 4D-flow MRI
Yunduo Li1, Huijun Chen1, Le He1
1From the Center for Biomedical Imaging Research (Y.L., H.C., L.H., R.L., C.Y.), Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University; Neurosurgery Department (X.C.), PLA General Hospital; Xuanwu Hospital (X.W.), Capital Medical University; Beijing Tongren Hospital (S.C.), Capital Medical University, Beijing, China; and Department of Radiology (C.Y.), University of Washington, Seattle.
Objective:
To use 4D-flow MRI to characterize hemodynamics of transverse and sigmoid sinus in venous pulsatile tinnitus (PT) patients and to investigate their differences vs healthy controls.
Methods:
A total of 21 patients with venous PT and 11 healthy controls were included in the retrospective study. All participants underwent 4D-flow and magnetic resonance venography scan in a 3.0T magnetic resonance scanner. All visualization, quantification, and analysis of 4D-flow data were performed using dedicated software. Two independent reviewers evaluated the existence of vortex or turbulence. Covariance analysis adjusted for age was used to compare average through-plane velocity (Vtp_avg), maximum through-plane velocity (Vtp_max), average velocity (Vavg), maximum velocity (Vmax), average blood flow (Flowavg), and pulsatility index (PI) between PT and control group.
Results:
There were hemodynamic differences between PT patients and healthy controls. Compared with the control group, the PT group showed significantly higher Vtp_avg, Vtp_max, Vavg, Vmax, and Flowavg, and slightly higher PI. For the assessment of flow pattern, inter-reader reproducibility was excellent (κ = 1.00). Vortex or turbulence was observed in PT patients with good sensitivity (86.4%) and specificity (90.9%). Drainage dominance was more frequently observed in patients (15/21, 71.4%) than healthy controls (4/11, 36.4%).
Conclusions:
Significant hemodynamic differences were found between venous PT patients and healthy controls with 4D-flow MRI. Hemodynamic conditions could serve as noninvasive biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment evaluation of venous PT.
Classification Of Evidence:
This study provides Class III evidence that 4D-flow MRI accurately identifies patients with venous PT.
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