Introduction: This study presents a comparison of established methods for measuring dural ectasia with a new quantitative method of assessing this clinical feature.
Methods: Seventeen patients with an identified mutation in FBN1 were examined for dural ectasia. The results were compared with 17 age- and sex-matched controls. Our images were also evaluated using the two methods of quantifying dural ectasia, namely those of Ahn et al. and of Oosterhof et al.
Results: With our method, 80% MFS1 patients and 7% controls fulfilled the criterion for dural ectasia. Using the method of Oosterhof et al., dural ectasia was found in 88% patients with MFS1 and in 47% controls. Using the method of Ahn et al. 76% patients with Marfan syndrome and 29% controls showed dural ectasia.
Conclusion: We present a novel quantitative method of evaluating MRT images for dural ectasia, which, in our own patient cohort, performed better than those previously described.