MRI in Menière’s Disease

Abstract

The visualization of the morphologic substrate of Menière’s disease -the endolymphatic hydrops – can be performed using non-contrast as well as contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques. The non-contrast magnetic resonance imaging technique uses a heavily T2-weighted sequence; however, the reproducibility of this technique remains to be confirmed. The contrast-enhanced techniques most frequently use a 3-dimensional fluid-attenuated inversion recovery sequence or a real 3-dimensional inversion recovery sequence either after intratympanic gadolinium administration either 4 hours after intravenous gadolinium administration. The latter is the most frequently used technique and is able to detect definite Menière’s disease with a high sensitivity and specificity. It has been proven to be a reliable technique with a high diagnostic accuracy, enabling the visualization of endolymphatic hydrops.

Keywords

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Endolymphatic hydrops, Temporal bone disease, Menière's disease, Classification, Diagnosis