Neuroimaging Vascular Evaluation in Head and Brain Tumors: From Diagnosis to Surgical Planning

Vascular issues are of paramount importance for the evaluation of head and brain tumors. In some cases, the angiographic pattern is fundamental for the differential diagnosis, and catheter angiography maintains the role of gold standard, for diagnostic purposes too, at least less employed in comparison with some decades ago. The investigation of feeding, angioarchitecture and venous drainage of tumors in these regions is a crucial step for planning treatment and for selecting patients as candidates to endovascular approach. The angiographic pattern of these tumors has been investigated and described decades ago and the new techniques allow to obtain a more precise information than the ones available in the past, confirming it in most cases. In this chapter, the main angiographic patterns of brain and head tumors are discussed and the main indications for catheter angiography are proposed.