Intracranial Calcifications and Hemorrhages: Characterization with Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping

This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board. Thirty-eight patients (24 male, 14 female; mean age, 33 years +/- 16 [standard deviation]) with intracranial calcifications and/ or hemorrhages diagnosed on the basis of computed tomography (CT), MR imaging (interval between examinations, 1.78 days +/- 1.31), and clinical information were selected. GRE and QSM images were reconstructed from the same GRE data. Two experienced neuroradiologists independently identified the calcifications and hemorrhages on the QSM and GRE phase images in two randomized sessions. Sensitivity, specificity, and interobserver agreement were computed and compared with the McNemar test and kappa coefficients. Calcification loads and volumes were measured to gauge intermodality correlations with CT.