Renal cell carcinoma: applicability of the apparent coefficient of the diffusion-weighted estimated by MRI for improving their differential diagnosis, histologic subtyping, and differentiation grade.

Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) represents the most common malignant epithelial neoplasm of the kidney. Accurate assessment of the renal masses, defining the histologic subtype and the grade of differentiation of the tumor, is vital to ensure an adequate case management as well as for staging and prognosis. Recently, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tends to be increasingly appealing for the clinicians as an imaging procedure of choice for the diagnosis and staging of the RCC, which is predetermined by several advantages over CT.

Value of the diffusion-weighted MRI in the differential diagnostics of malignant and benign kidney neoplasms - our clinical experience.

Background: Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is an MRI modality using strong bipolar gradients to create a sensitivity of the signal to the thermally-induced Brownian motions of water molecules and in vivo measurement of molecular diffusion. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) is a quantitative parameter calculated from DWI images which is used as a measure of diffusion. DWI allows to obtain comprehensive information on morphological and functional state of the kidney during a single examination without contrast medium administration.

Manganic encephalopathy due to "ephedrone" abuse.

We describe the clinical and neuroimaging features of 6 drug-abuse patients with self-inflicted manganese poisoning. The patients injected a home-brewed mixture called "ephedrone" (slang term) that contained manganese to produce an amphetamine-like euphoria. The desired chemical product, phenylpropanoneamine (also called methcathinone), was synthesized from a common-cold-remedy compound using permanganate as the catalyst.