ABSTRACT

Background: The posterior cranial fossa is part of the cranial cavity, located between the foramen magnum and tentorium cerebelli. The gross anatomic relationships of the posterior fossa contents are best evaluated on sagittal images. Ependymoma is the third most common posterior fossa tumor in children. No specific causes for posterior fossa tumors exist.

Aim: To find the sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging in detecting abnormality in posterior cranial fossa in children taking histopathology as gold standard.

Design: It was a cross-sectional survey.

Study Settings: This study was conducted at the Department of Radiology, The Children’s Hospital, Lahore, for a period of 6 months from November 2017 to April 2018.

Methods: After meeting the inclusion criteria 95 patients were enrolled in this study. Demographic information was taken. Then patients underwent MRI by using 1.5-T systems. Routine MRI brain sequences included FSE (Fast Spin Echo) T1 weighted images T2 weighted images, FLAIR, GRE & CISS. All collected data was analyzed with SPSS version 20. From parents of all the patients, an informed written consent was taken.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 6.73±3.49 years with minimum and maximum ages of 1 & 12 years respectively. The posterior cranial fossa was diagnosed positive by MRI in 91(95.8%) patients and it was diagnosed negative in 4(4.2%) patients. Thus, the sensitivity of MRI in diagnosing abnormal posterior cranial fossa was 95.8%.

Conclusion: MRI is highly sensitive for detecting abnormality in posterior cranial fossa in children taking histopathology as gold standard. Thus, recommended in future practice.

Keywords: Histopathology, MRI, Posterior Cranial Fossa, Children, Abnormality