SUSCEPTIBILITY-WEIGHTED MR IMAGING: ADDED VALUE OF SUSCEPTIBILITY SIGNALS IN DIAGNOSIS OF HEMORRHAGIC LESIONS OF THE BRAIN

Susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) is a relatively new high-spatial resolution 3D gradient-echo MR imaging technique that uses both magnitude and phase information. This technique exploits the magnetic susceptibility differences of various tissues or substances, such as blood products, iron, and calcification. It is particularly useful to visualize intravascular venous deoxygenated blood as well as extravascular blood products. Therefore, SWI provides additional diagnostic and prognostic data in the evaluation of a wide variety of neurologic disorders including various hemorrhagic lesions seen in traumatic brain injury, coagulopathic or other hemorrhagic disorders, occult vascular malformations, stroke, hypoxicanoxic injury, neoplasms, and neurodegenerative disorders. We present a review with selected cases to illustrate and discuss the clinical usefulness of SWI in hemorrhagic lesions of the brain.