4D flow measurements in the superior cerebellar artery at 7 Tesla: feasibility and potential for applications in patients with trigeminal neuralgia

Background Trigeminal Neuralgia is characterized by episodic severe facial pain possibly the result of “pulsatile” compression of the nerve Root Entry Zone (REZ) of the Trigeminal Nerve (TN) by the adjacent superior cerebellar artery (SCA). The exact role of pulsatility of SCA remains unknown and currently no methods are available to measure the pulsatility of the SCA. Herein we investigate the feasibility of measuring blood flow and the Pulsatility Index (PI) within SCA and within the nearby posterior cerebral artery (PCA) using 4D-flow in a normal volunteer at 7T.