MRI findings in giant pontine capillary telangiectasis associated with a developmental venous anomaly

Abstract

We report a 32-year-old woman with an exceptionally large capillary telangiectasia in the brainstem which is associated with a developmental venous anomaly (DVA). Her major problems were nystagmus in both eyes, binocular diplopia, gait abnormalities, cerebellar ataxia, slightly disturbed finger-nose test, an instable Romberg test and obvious dysartria. The diagnosis was made on the basis of specific imaging findings, and the use of gradient echo-weighted images proved to be helpful in making a differential diagnostic decision.