Data Management And Sharing System of China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases

A 36-year-old man was admitted for acute right extremity weakness with multiple acute infarctions in the left middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory. 7T and 3T MRI scans were completed at 9 and 10 days after symptom onset (figure 1). There was susceptibility vessel sign, which represents red blood cell dominant intraluminal thrombus,1 2 at left distal M2 segment MCA on susceptibility-weighted imaging (figure 1B). 7T vessel wall MRI showed a typical feature of a long segment dissection at the left distal M2 segment of MCA with a mural haematoma and the residual lumen (figure 2A), which was not seen on 3T (figure 2B). Vessel wall MRI was a valuable tool for the diagnosis of intracranial artery dissection.2 3 This case indicated that 7T vessel wall MRI may provide better detail on the pathological change than traditional 3T MRI for diagnosing distal intracranial arterial dissection, the diagnose otherwise could be missed.

CASE REPORT