in vivo quantitative assessment of the meningeal lymphatics using 3D black blood T1 imaging: a preliminary study

We evaluated the meningeal lymphatics using 3D black blood T1 imaging and its association with clinical parameters as well as enlarged perivascular spaces. This retrospective study included 24 patients who underwent contrast-enhanced 3D black blood T1 imaging on 3T brain MRI and assessed their meningeal lymphatics located parallel to the superior sagittal sinuses. The group with higher meningeal lymphatics volume more frequently have diabetes than the lower group, which is one of the major vascular as well as cognitive risk factors. Furthermore, the higher group had a significantly higher score of enlarged perivascular space in centrum semovale, which is not surprising when considering its close anatomical and functional relationships within the glymphatic system. Therefore, we suggest that the expanded meningeal lymphatics may be an imaging marker of poor function of glymphatics but further studies with disease conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease should be followed to clarify the exact meaning of the volume of the meningeal lymphatics.