Spontaneous regression of an idiopathic arteriovenous fistula of the right vertebral artery.

A previously healthy 53-year-old male presented with a 2-month history of pulsatile tinnitus, worsening headaches, and neck pain. Given the clinical symptoms, a workup was initiated to assess for a vascular etiology such as a dural arteriovenous fistula.

'Do not touch' lesions of the skull base.

Imaging of the skull base presents many challenges due to its anatomical complexity, numerous normal variants and lack of familiarity to many radiologists. As the skull base is a region which is not amenable to physical examination and as lesions of the skull base are generally difficult to biopsy and even more difficult to operate on, the radiologist plays a major role in directing patient management via accurate image interpretation. Knowledge of the skull base should not be limited to neuroradiologists and head and neck radiologists, however, as the central skull base is routinely included in the field of view when imaging the brain, cervical spine, or head and neck with computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, and hence, its nuances should be familiar to general radiologists as well.

Medical student radiology externs: increasing exposure to radiology, improving education, and influencing career choices.

Purpose: The radiology externship program at the authors' institution introduces medical students to radiology using a hands-on approach and is tailored to interested third-year medical students. There are currently limited data available on whether the program increases exposure to radiology in a positive fashion and how it influences medical students' education and career choices.

Methods: In September 2010, current and former externs between 2007 and 2010 were surveyed using an anonymous, Web-based survey.

Spontaneously ruptured intraspinal epidermoid cyst causing chemical meningitis.

We report a 53-year-old woman with a rare ruptured lumbar intraspinal epidermoid cyst causing chemical meningitis evaluated with MRI (including diffusion-weighted imaging), with histopathologic correlation.

A case of solitary Blastomyces dermatitidis meningitis.

We present a case of a 35 year-old male with Blastomyces dermatitidis meningitis as the primary presentation of blastomycosis infection, without evidence of involvement outside the CNS at time of discharge. We focus on the magnetic resonance imaging findings, with histopathologic correlation.

Previous statin use is not associated with an increased prevalence or degree of gradient-echo lesions in patients with acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack.

Background And Purpose: Microhemorrhages on gradient-echo T2*-weighted MRI sequences are often found in patients with cerebrovascular disease and are related to intracerebral hemorrhage. Because statin therapy is associated with increased risk of intracerebral hemorrhage, we investigated whether statin use was also associated with microhemorrhages in patients with acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis on prospectively collected data from a stroke registry containing patients with acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack.

Determination of blood longitudinal relaxation time (T1) at high magnetic field strengths.

In this study, a circulation system was used to measure T(1) values of bovine blood under physiological conditions at field strengths of 4.7, 7 and 9.4 T.