Normative measurements of orbital structures by magnetic resonance imaging.

Purpose: We describe and compare the normative values of orbital structures in an Australian cohort on T1-weighted MRI and fat-suppressed contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MRI.

Methods: Retrospective review of patients who underwent 3T orbital MRI. The maximum extraocular muscle (EOM) and superior ophthalmic vein (SOV) diameters on normal orbits were recorded. The extraocular muscle diameters were summed to produce the sum of all muscles.

Results: The normal measurements (mean ± SD) from 141 orbits that had fat-suppressed contrast-enhanced MRI: medial rectus, 4.1 ± 0.5 mm; lateral rectus (LR), 3.9 ± 0.7 mm; superior muscle group (SMG), 4.5 ± 0.7 mm; inferior rectus (IR), 4.6 ± 0.7 mm; and SOV, 1.8 ± 0.7 mm. The normal measurement from 84 orbits that had T1-weighted MRI: MR, 4.1 ± 0.5 mm; LR, 3.4 ± 0.6 mm; SMG, 4.3 ± 0.7 mm; IR, 4.6 ± 0.7 mm; SOV, 2.0 ± 0.7 mm. Eighty-four orbits had both MRI sequences performed. The LR, SMG and the sum of all muscles were significantly larger on fat-suppressed contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MRI sequence than the T1-weighted sequence (P < 0.01), whereas the SOV was significantly larger on the T1-weighted sequence (P < 0.01).

Conclusion: These data may aid in diagnosing pathological enlargement of the EOMs and SOV on different scan sequences.