MR imaging of the cranial meninges with emphasis on contrast enhancement and meningeal carcinomatosis

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Abstract
MR imaging was used to investigate normal and abnormal meningeal enhancement, with an emphasis on meningeal carcinomatosis. Three groups of patients were studied on a 1.5-T system. In group 1, the normal meninges were examined in 20 patients and were found to show fine linear enhancement in short segments, especially in a parasagittal distribution. In group 2, all gadolinium-enhanced head scans were reviewed retrospectively. Abnormal meningeal enhancement was detected in 52 patients. In some of these, the enhancement was associated with pathologic conditions of the meninges, including leptomeningeal tumor and meningeal infections and other inflammatory conditions; in others the enhancement was adjacent to subdural hematomas, subacute infarcts, and skull lesions, such as metastases or postoperative defects. In group 3, 30 cases of meningeal carcinomatosis were studied prospectively. Enhancement was seen in approximately two-thirds of cases and usually was quite diffuse and applied to the inner table of the...