Subarachnoid FLAIR hyperintensity

Last revised by Daniel B Chonde on 1 Nov 2022

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Radswiki T, Chonde D, Sharma R, et al. Subarachnoid FLAIR hyperintensity. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 01 Oct 2023) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-13419

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-13419

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/13419

rID:

13419

Article created:

9 Apr 2011, The Radswiki ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created The Radswiki had no recorded disclosures.

View The Radswiki's current disclosures

Last revised:

1 Nov 2022, Daniel B Chonde

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Daniel B Chonde had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.

View Daniel B Chonde's current disclosures

Revisions:

24 times, by 15 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Central Nervous System

Sections:

Gamuts

Synonyms:

Subarachnoid FLAIR high signal
Differential diagnosis for subarachnoid FLAIR hyperintensity

There are a wide range of causes for subarachnoid FLAIR hyperintensity, both pathological and artifactual.

Differential diagnosis

Pathological causes

subarachnoid hemorrhage
meningitis
leptomeningeal carcinomatosis
FLAIR vascular hyperintensities in acute stroke ^1,4,8
moyamoya disease
meningeal melanomatosis
meningeal melanocytosis
migraine
elevated blood pool to CSF Ratio ¹
fat-containing lesions in subarachnoid space
- lipoma
- ruptured dermoid cyst

Artifactual causes

hyperoxygenation therapy
recent gadolinium contrast medium administration
- lasting ~2-24 hours, especially if there is adjacent pathology which involves disruption of the blood-brain barrier, or neovascularization ⁷
CSF flow artifact
vascular pulsation artifact
magnetic susceptibility artifact
motion artifact