BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE-: Prospective differentiation between reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome and central nervous system vasculitis can be challenging. We hypothesized that high-resolution vessel wall MRI would demonstrate arterial wall enhancement in central nervous system vasculitis but not in reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome. METHODS-: We identified all patients with multifocal segmental narrowing of large intracranial arteries who had high-resolution vessel wall MRI and follow-up angiography at our institute over a 4-year period and performed a detailed chart review. RESULTS-: Three patients lacked arterial wall enhancement, and these all had reversal of arterial narrowing within 3 months. Four patients demonstrated arterial wall enhancement, and these had persistent or progressive arterial narrowing at a median follow-up of 17 months (range, 6-36 months) with final diagnoses of central nervous system vasculitis (3) and cocaine vasculopathy (1). CONCLUSIONS-: Preliminary results suggest that high-resolution contrast-enhanced vessel wall MRI may enable differentiation between reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome and central nervous system vasculitis. © 2012 American Heart Association, Inc.
CITATION STYLE
Mandell, D. M., Matouk, C. C., Farb, R. I., Krings, T., Agid, R., Terbrugge, K., … Mikulis, D. J. (2012). Vessel wall MRI to differentiate between reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome and central nervous system vasculitis: Preliminary results. Stroke, 43(3), 860–862. https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.111.626184
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