Epidural lipomatosis and congenital small spinal canal in spinal anaesthesia: a case report and review of the literature.

Introduction: Complications after lumbar anaesthesia and epidural blood patch have been described in patients with congenital small spinal canal and increased epidural fat or epidural lipomatosis. These conditions, whether occurring separately or in combination, require magnetic resonance imaging for diagnosis and grading, but their clinical significance is still unclear.

Case Presentation: A 35-year-old Caucasian woman who was undergoing a Caesarean section developed a longstanding L4-L5 unilateral neuropathy after the administration of spinal anaesthesia.

Diffusion-weighted MRI findings in patients with capsular warning syndrome.

Background And Purpose: The 'capsular warning syndrome' (CWS) of recurrent stereotyped episodes of motor or sensory dysfunction is clinically well recognized, and is associated with a high risk of imminent lacunar infarction with permanent deficits resembling those of CWS. However, the pathophysiology of CWS has not been well characterized. We report a clinicoanatomic correlation with MR imaging studies in the acute and chronic phases in patients with CWS.

Diffusion-weighted imaging of brain metastases: their potential to be misinterpreted as focal ischaemic lesions.

Small focal ischaemic brain lesions are said to be easy to identify in the acute stage and to differentiate from older lesions using diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). Brain metastases are common and the aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of misinterpretation as ischaemic lesions in a standard MRI protocol for clinical stroke. Of 26 patients investigated with MRI for possible metastases, 12 did have metastatic brain lesions, including most of the common tumours.