Screening for cerebellopontine angle tumours: Conventional MRI vs T2 fast spin echo MRI

Abstract

Background: Unilateral audiovestibular symptoms are commonly seen in clinical practice and are rarely caused by retrocochlear pathology. However, clinicians are often required to rule out potentially serious causes of these unilateral symptoms. Gadolinium enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (GdMRI) is the most accurate test for detecting small cerebellopontine angle lesions and also screens the adjacent CNS structures. Its main disadvantage is the cost of the procedure. Methods: We studied 100 consecutive patients with both GdMRI and a newer MRI screening study utilizing unenhanced T2-weighted fast spin echo (fse) MRI. Acquired images were randomly assessed by a panel of three neuro-radiologists. Results: We found that the screening (fse) MRI was as sensitive and specific when detecting cerebellopontine angle tumors. Conclusions: We conclude that T2-weighted fse MRI is a safe and cost-effective alternative to GdMRI and offers better diagnostic utility when compared to auditory brain stem response (ABR) and CT scans.