© American Roentgen Ray SOciety MagnetiC Resonance

Twenty-eight patients with 32 meningiomas were studied on a 0.5-T superconductive magnetic resonance (MR) imager. This common, benign treatable tumor was more clearly seen on computed tomography (CT) than MRI in 53 % of cases. This is a result of poor contrast between the tumor and the adjacent brain on all spin-echo and inversion-recovery pulse sequences. Those sequences that provide the greatest anatomic detail were best for identifying this low-contrast lesion. Inversion-recovery scans in particular demonstrated the tumor as a discrete hypo intense mass (relative to nearby white matter) with excellent visualization of the dural base and white matter buckling indicative of extracerebral mass effect. Other characteristic features include: (1) a hypointense rim because of the venous capsule (66%); (2) mottling due to hypervascularity; (3) a well defined edema collar that demarcates the tumor from adjacent brain; and (4) hyperos-tosis with thickening of the calvaria and obliteration of its normal landmarks. MRI did not demonstrate tumor calcification but did demonstrate vascular encasement, displace-ment, and occlusion better than CT and as well as digital venous angiography. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has proven to be an extraordinarily sensitive imaging method for central nervous system pathology, often exceeding computed tomography (CT) in demonstrating lesions [1-7]. Reports of MRI in meningiomas have, however, been scant and anecdotal [2, 3, 5, 6, 8]. We report our experience of MRI in 28 patients with 32 meningiomas. In this common, benign, and generally treatable lesion [9, 10], CT is more sensitive than MRI. The causes of this phenomenon will be discussed and specific MRI features of meningiomas pre-sented