Susceptibility-Weighted Imaging of Cerebral Fat Embolism

Abstract Cerebral fat embolism (CFE) causes microinfarcts, vasogenic edema, and petechiae in the brain. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging has been reported to effectively visualize microinfarcts and vasogenic edema in CFE, but not petechiae. We report 3 cases of CFE in which susceptibility-weighted imaging distinctly demonstrated multiple minute hypointense foci in the brain, which were interpreted as petechiae, susceptibility-weighted imaging is a useful adjunct to conventional magnetic resonance imaging for the evaluation of CFE.