No significant differences in the extracranial venous systems between MS patients and HC subjects were detected by using MR venography. Standardized guidelines are needed to define parameters for the presence of venous anomalies.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) is a vascular condition characterized by anomalies of the main extracranial cerebrospinal venous routes that interfere with normal venous outflow. Research into CCSVI will determine its sensitivity and specificity for a diagnosis of MS, its prevalence in MS patients, and its clinical, MRI, and genetic correlates. Our aim was to investigate the prevalence and number of intra-and extraluminal structural and functional extracranial venous abnormalities by using DS and MRV, in patients with MS and HCs.

Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) was recently described in multiple sclerosis patients. CCSVI is characterized by impaired brain venous drainage due to outflow obstruction in the extracranial venous system, mostly related to anomalies in the internal jugular and azygos veins. The current CCSVI diagnosis is based on Doppler sonography of extracranial and transcranial venous hemodynamics criteria. To date, prevalence estimates of CCSVI, provided by different groups using various imaging methods of assessment, vary widely from none to 100%. There is an urgent need to define and validate the spectrum of cranial/extracranial venous anomalies and to establish reliable, diagnostic gold-standard test(s). The potential usefulness of endovascular treatment for CCSVI in multiple sclerosis patients is still unknown.