Magnetic resonance imaging of cerebellopontine angle lesions

ABSTRACT

There is difficulty to differentiate between different types of cerebellopontine angle [CPA] lesions with CT, here we try to use MR imaging to differentiate between different types of CPA lesions. The study included 30 patients out of 103 patients with intracranial space occupying lesions [SOL] that affecting different cranial nerves, each patient was submitted to full neurological examination and MR imaging including T1-weighted images [T1WI], T2-weighted images [T2WI], 3 dimensional balanced fast field echo [3D B-FE] imaging and post gadolinium [Gd] T1WI. According to MR findings we can classify CPA lesions into; 16 acoustic neuromas, one facial neuroma, six meningiomas, three epidermoid tumor, two arachnoid cyst, one basilar artery aneurysm and one 4[th] ventricle ependymoma with exophytic components into CPA. MR imaging can differentiate between different types of CPA lesions