Retrograde Venous Flow in Dural Sinus and Internal Jugular Vein on 3D TOF MRA

Bum-soo Kim¹, Jinhee Jang¹, Hyun Seok Choi¹, So-Lyung Jung¹, Kook-Jin Ahn¹

Venous reflux flow in internal jugular vein (IJV), sigmoid/transverse sinuses (SS/TS), and inferior petrosal sinus (IPS) on the brain and neck 3D TOF MRA were evaluated from 3475 patients. Fifty-five patients (1.6%) showed reflux flow, all in the left side, and more frequent in female than in male. Mean age of patients with reflux flow was older than those without reflux flow. It was more frequent on SS/TS than on IPS. Venous reflux flows in IJV, SS/TS and IPS on TOF MRA could be an alarm for undesirable candidate for contrast injection on left side for contrast enhanced imaging study.