Agenesis of a sacral pedicle and superior facet: CT and MR demonstration

This paper presents a 20-year-old woman with agenesis of the right pedicle and Superior articular process of the first sacral vertebra. The condition caused lower back pain. The extent of the anomaly was well demonstrated by CT and MR imaging. To the authors knowledge this is the first in vivo demonstration of the anomaly. © 1994 Springer-Verlag

Minimum apparent diffusion coefficients in the evaluation of brain tumors

WOS: 000232260500010PubMed ID: 16129247Objective: To determine whether diffusion-weighted imaging by using minimum apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC(min)) values could differentiate various brain tumors including gliomas, metastases, and lymphomas. Materials and methods: We examined 65 patients with histologically or clinically diagnosed brain tumors (12 low-grade gliomas, 31 high-grade gliomas, 14 metastatic tumors, and 8 lymphomas) using a 1.5 T MR unit. On diffusion-weighted imaging, the ADC(min) values were measured within the tumors and mean values were evaluated regarding statistical differences between groups. Results: The ADC(min). values of low-grade gliomas (1.09 +/- 0.20 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s) were significantly higher (p <.001) than those of other tumors. There were no statistical significant differences between glioblastomas (0.70 +/- 0.16 mm(2)/s), anaplastic astrocytomas (0.77 +/- 0.21 mm(2)/s), metastases (0.78 +/- 0.21 mm(2)/s), and lymphomas. But, lymphomas had lower mean ADC(min) values (0.54 +/- 10 mm(2)/s) than high-grade gliomas and metastases. Conclusion: The ADC measurements may help to differentiate low-grade gliomas from high-grade gliomas, metastases, and lymphomas. Although there is no statistical difference, lymphomas seem to have marked restriction in diffusion coefficients. (C) 2005 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd