RARE Hydrography as a New Diagnostic Tool with Special Respect to Its Value in Preoperative Examinations

Abstract

The advent of magnetic resonance imaging considerably improved preoperative morphological evaluation in neurosurgical patients. The time-consuming examination, which is particularly hampering in severely ill and agitated patients, is still a disadvantage inherent to the standard spin-echo sequences at a tolerable field strength. Of the many fast-imaging procedures that have been tried, we adopted the RARE method (rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement) for routine examinations. RARE hydrography with selective fluid contrast obtainable in a very short acquisition time (4–10 s) can easily be used to visualize CSF spaces, thus producing scans comparable to myelography, cisternography, or ventriculography, all of which are invasive and dependent on contrast media.