Microvessels may Confound the "Swallow Tail Sign" in Normal Aged Midbrains: A Postmortem 7 T SW-MRI Study.
Thomas KauSimon HametnerVerena EndmayrAndreas DeistungMax PrihodaEvelin HaimburgerChristian MenardThomas HaiderRomana HöftbergerSimon RobinsonJürgen R ReichenbachHans LassmannHannes TraxlerSiegfried TrattnigGünther GrabnerPublished in: Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging (2018)
Both iron deposits and microvessels contribute to the hyposignal surrounding nigrosome 1 in susceptibility weighted imaging of normal aged midbrains at ultrahigh-field strength. When assessing the substantia nigra for the presence or absence of the "swallow tail sign," intrinsic vessels may be a sporadic confounder.