Cerebral Venous Lesions

Cerebral venous imaging includes evaluation of intracerebral venous thrombosis as well as imaging cavernous and venous angiomas. This may be accomplished by conventional MR imaging and magnetic resonance venography (MRV). Cerebral venous occlusive disease is distinctly different from arterial occlusive disease. With venous occlusion, the blood-brain barrier often remains intact. Signal abnormalities seen on neuroimaging studies are often reversible and hemorrhage is more common. Venous infarcts do not usually affect discrete, well defined territories like arterial infarcts. However, some patterns do tend to emerge. Transverse sinus thrombosis tends to affect the temporal lobes. Superior sagittal sinus thrombosis tends to affect the parasagittal frontal lobes. Vein of Galen/straight sinus thrombosis tends to affect the thalami.