Increased Visibility of Deep Medullary Veins in Transient Ischemic Attack Patients by Using Susceptibility Weighted Imaging

To explore alteration of deep medullary veins (DMVs) in transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients by using susceptibility weightedimaging (SWI).
Patients and Fifty-three TIA patients and 53 matched gender and age controls’ SWI data were studied by comparing their DMVs asymmetry/score between groups. The DMVs score based on the degree of visibility were assessed from 0 (not visible) to 3 (very prominent) for both hemispheres separately. A different score between the two hemispheres was defined as asymmetric DMVs (ADMVs), and an equal score was defined as symmetric DMVs. The higher score in the two hemispheres worked as its DMVs score for ADMVs. In ADMVs, based on whether the affected hemisphere, which was defined according to clinical symptoms by neurologists, gets a higher score or not, was defined as ipsilateral or contralateral asymmetric DMVs (iADMVs or cADMVs).
The agreement between neuroradiologists for both asymmetry and score of DMVs on TIA patients’ SWI were excellent. There were statistically significant differences for the score of DMVs between TIA and the control group (P The visibility of DMVs in patients with TIA were increased, with or without ADMVs, and these alterations may reflect hemodynamic information following TIA process, laying foundations for DMVs application in TIA.