Clinical application of MR susceptibility weighted imaging in intracranial hemorrhage

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Objective To assess the value of susceptibility weighted imaging(SWI) in the diagnosis of intracranial hemorrhage. Methods Forty patients with intracranial hemorrhage underwent MRI scanning (GE Signa HDe 1.5 T), which included T2WI, T1WI, T2 * WI and SWI. Of them, DWI was conducted in 37 cases and enhanced MRI was conducted in 10 cases additionally. After post processing on the workstation, both magnitude and phase images of SWI were acquired for further analysis. The images of all sequences were scored from 1 to 3, according to their ability of depicting the lesions. Statistical analysis was conducted to compare the scores among these sequences. Results On SWI, the scores in detecting the lesions, their margin and adjacent veins were 2. 8, 2. 8, and 2. 8 respectively. The scores of those were 1.8, 1.7,and 0.0 on T1WI, 2.3, 2.0 and 0.0 on T2WI, 2.0, 2.1 and 0.2 on T2* WI, respectively. There was statistical difference between the scores on SWI and those on T1WI, T2 WI and T2 * WI ( P < 0. 01 ). The numbers of micro hemorrhagic lesions that could be observed on SWI, T1WI, T2WI, DWI and T2 *WI were 402, 55, 61, 84 and 188 respectively. There was statistical difference in showing micro hemorrhagic lesions between SWI and T1WI, T2WI, DWI, T2 * WI (P < 0. 01 ). Conclusion SWI is sensitive to visualize the hemorrhagic region, and has predominant advantage over conventional MR sequences including T2 * WI in detecting intracranial hemorrhage, especially cerebral microbleeding. According to the features of the paramagnetic and diamagnetic lesions, radiologists can differentiate hemorrhage and calcification with phase images. Key words: Magnetic resonance imaging; Intracranial hemorrhage