A 47 year-old woman presented with headaches.

(Left) Axial T1 weighted MRI; (Right) T2 axial weighted MRI.  Note the lesion which is dark on both T1 and T2 weighted images (arrows). This is consistent with hemosiderin, the residual from old blood.  This is a picture of a cavernous angioma.  They typically occur in the subcortical cerebral hemispheres and in the pons.  With MRI, congenital cavernous angiomas are being more often recognized as a source of intracerebral hemorrhage.

Revised 05/19/06.
The Electronic Curriculum is copyrighted 1998,  Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.