Qualitative Assessment and Reporting Quality of Intracranial Vessel Wall MR Imaging Studies: A Systematic Review

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Over the last quarter-century, the number of publications using vessel wall MR imaging has increased. Although many narrative reviews offer insight into technique and diagnostic applications, a systematic review of publication trends and reporting quality has not been conducted to identify unmet needs and future directions. PURPOSE: We aimed to identify which intracranial vasculopathies need more data and to highlight areas of strengths and weaknesses in reporting. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, EMBASE, and MEDLINE databases were searched up to September 2018 in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. DATA ANALYSIS: Two independent reviewers screened and extracted data from 128 articles. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines were used to assess the reporting quality of analytic observational studies.

Identification of high risk clinical and imaging features for intracranial artery dissection using high-resolution cardiovascular magnetic resonance

“…Many pilot studies have demonstrated its complementary values for the diagnosis of intracranial dissection over DSA, magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and computed tomography angiography (CTA) by harnessing its excellent soft tissue contrast [ 3 , 9 – 11 ]. However, compared with carotid atherosclerosis, investigations on the diagnostic utility of hrCMR are much less commonly performed with intracranial vasculopathies including dissections [ 12 ]. It has been suggested that hrCMR should be used as a second-line diagnostic modality when there is diagnostic uncertainty [ 13 ].…”

Ruptured bilateral middle cerebral artery aneurysms diagnosed based on cerebral vasospasm-associated ischemic symptoms: A case report

“…The number of studies utilizing VWI of intracranial vessels has increased exponentially since the first report describing VWI in 1994. About half of these studies are related to atherosclerotic lesions, but the number of studies on aneurysms is also increasing [7] . In particular, in patients with multiple cerebral aneurysms, VWI with contrast-enhanced MRI is useful in identifying the specific aneurysm that has ruptured based on the contrast enhancement of the aneurysm wall [4 , 8] .…”

A proposed method for outlining occluded intracranial artery using 3D T2-weighted sampling perfection with application optimized contrasts using different flip angle evolution (SPACE)

“…2 Because this sequence is intended mainly for evaluation of wall features, suppression of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is important. [3][4][5] Here, we employed T2-weighted images, in which the contrast between the low-intensity flow void of the vessels and the high-intensity CSF permits vessel identification without contrast medium. To our best knowledge, this is the first report to demonstrate the feasibility of T2-SPACE for imaging of occluded vessels.…”