Magnetic resonance cisternography for visualization of intracisternal fine structures

Object. To assess its usefulness in demonstrating cisternal anatomy, the authors investigated magnetic resonance (MR) cisternography in which a heavily T2-weighted turbo spin—echo method was used to visualize normal anatomical fine structures and lesions in the basal cisterns in 20 healthy volunteers and 43 patients. The authors applied peripheral pulse gating, which had been optimized to reduce artifacts in the cisterns attributable to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow. Methods. The detectability of each cranial nerve was determined in healthy volunteers. The first, second, and third nerves and the seventh—eighth nerve complex were clearly visualized in all participants; the fifth nerve was clearly seen in 80% and the sixth cranial nerve in 50%. The fourth nerve and the ninth through 12th nerves were difficult to identify individually, except in some volunteers. To reduce artifacts caused by fast CSF flow, we determined the delays as a function of the time elapsed between two consecutive peaks of pulse wave...