Decreased brain venous vasculature visibility on susceptibility-weighted imaging venography in patients with multiple sclerosis is related to chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency

Table 4 Quantitative brain parenchyma venous vascular assessment in multiple sclerosis patients and healthy controls on pre- and post-contrast susceptibility-weighted images.

	MS (n = 59) Pre-contrast Mean (SD)	MS (n = 48) Post-contrast Mean (SD)	HC (n = 33) Pre-contrast Mean (SD)	HC (n = 7) Post-contrast Mean (SD)	p-value^a	p-value^b	p-value^c	p-value^d
ATVV for all vein diameters	66.9 (16.6)	68.9 (15.1)	82.9 (17.4)	91.6 (18.1)	< .0001	< .0001	NS	.01
ATVV with diameter < .3 mm	45 (10)	48.9 (7.9)	53.8 (10.2)	61.3(7.7)	< .0001	< .0001	NS	.01
ATVV with diameter .3-.6 mm	15.5 (4.4)	16.3 (4.6)	17.4 (4.7)	21.2 (5.2)	.068	.046	NS	.018
ATVV with diameter .6-.9 mm	4.5 (1.8)	4.5 (2)	4.9 (2)	5.3 (2)	NS	NS	NS	.044
ATVV with diamater > .9 mm	1.9 (0.9)	1.9 (1.2)	2.1 (0.9)	2.3 (0.9)	NS	NS	NS	NS
Venous intracranial fraction	0.061 (0.02)	0.062 (0.01)	0.067 (0.01)	0.069 (0.01)	.049	.05	NS	NS
Average distance from vein	1.24 (0.2)	1.23 (0.4)	1 (0.1)	0.94 (0.1)	< .0001	< .0001	NS	.018
	RR (n = 41) Pre-contrast Mean (SD)	RR (n = 32) Post-contrast Mean (SD)	SP (n = 18) Pre-contrast Mean (SD)	SP (n = 9) Post-contrast Mean (SD)	p-value ^e	p-value ^f
ATVV for all vein diameters	64.5 (18.7)	66.5 (17.2)	72.4 (8.3)	74.2 (6.2)	.06	NS
ATVV with diameter < .3 mm	43.4 (11.1)	47.7 (8.5)	48.6 (7.1)	51.5 (5.9)	.046	NS
ATVV with diameter .3-.6 mm	14.9 (5)	15.4 (5.2)	16.9 (2.1)	18.3 (2)	NS	.048
ATVV with diameter .6-.9 mm	4.2 (2.1)	4.2 (2.2)	5.2 (0.6)	5.2 (0.4)	NS	NS
ATVV with diamater > .9 mm	1.8 (1.1)	1.7 (1.4)	2.3 (0.5)	2.1 (0.4)	NS	NS
Venous intracranial fraction	0.058 (0.02)	0.059 (0.01)	0.068 (0.008)	0.068 (0.008)	.025	.052
Average distance from vein	1.26 (0.2)	1.29 (0.4)	1.22 (0.2)	1.23 (0.2)	NS	NS

MS - Multiple Sclerosis; HC - Healthy Controls; RR - Relapsing-Remitting; SP - Secondary Progressive; NS - non significant; ATVV - apparent total venous volume
ATVV values are in milliliters and average distance from vein in millimeters.
p value^a - represents pre-contrast SWI VVV measure differences between MS patients and HC, p value^b - represents differences between MS patients post-contrast and HC pre-contrast SWI VVV measures, p value^c - represents pre- and post-contrast SWI VVV measure differences in MS patients, p value^d - represents pre- and post-contrast SWI VVV measure differences in HC controls, p value^e represents pre-contrast SWI VVV measure differences between RR and SP patients, p value^f - represents post-contrast SWI VVV measure differences between RR and SP patients.
The differences between the study groups were tested using the Mann-Whitney rank sum test. The differences between pre-contrast and post-contrast SWI VVV measures in the same individuals were tested using the Wilcoxon signed rank test.

ISSN: 1471-2377